

|lli/sti^ioi/s 

t)OMIfJlC/VfJs 





LIBRARY OF CONGRESS. 



©lap. ©qwMl J^^ 
Shelf ...liC^r' 

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. 




m^ 



U"" 



SKETCHES 



ILLUSTRIOUS DOMINICANS: 

St. louls aBertrani), Julian (Barces, 
Jerome be Xoagsa. 

FROM THE FRENCH Of'^OURON AND ROZE, OF THE ORDER 
OF PREACHERS. 



Very Rev. STEPHEN BYRNE, O.P. 




■J ' '"t^^S, 

' ' 1884 ', 



s.SHlN^ 



Boston : 
T. B. NOONAN & CO. 

1884. 



Tb8 Library 
«p congrsss 

washihotom 



3X ^55"? 



Copyright, 1884, 
By J. L. O'NEIL. 



H. J. HEWITT, PRINTER, 27 ROSE STREET, NEW YORK. 



m-' 






approbations* 



Vidimus et Approbavimus : 

FR. J. R. MEAGHER, O.P., 
FR. J. L. O'NEIL, O.P., 

Revisores Deputati, 

Neo-Eboraci, die 26, Januarii, 1884. 



Imprimatur : 

FR. M. D. LILLY, O.P., 

Ptior Provincialis Provincia S, Joseph, 

Neo-Eboraci die 26, Januarii^ 1884. 



INTRODUCTION. 




[here is a close connection among 
these sketches of illustrious Do- 
minicans which leads us to pub- 
lish them in one volume. They briefly 
record the deeds of three heroes of the 
Cross, whose names, among many others, 
add lustre to the brilliant story of the 
early American Church. 

As such each has its interest for the stu- 
dent of our Catholic missionary history. 
But as representing the labors of the sons 
of St. Dominic, too often passed over in 
silence, they afford a particular attraction. 

St. Louis Bertrand stands pre-eminent 
among them as the realization of the 
Apostle and the Saint — the only one 
among the missionaries of South America, 



VI INTRODUCTION, 

save St. Francis Solano, of the Order of 
St. Francis, whom the Church has crown- 
ed with the glory of canonization. Won- 
derful as was his life, truly deserving as 
he is of the name of the St. Francis 
Xavier of the West Indies, this Apostle of 
New Granada is little known to Ameri- 
can readers. Rev. Alban Butler gives his 
life, but Marshall, in his '' Christian Mis- 
sions,'' does not even Tnention his name. 
This seems a neglect hardly excusable 
when we remember the extent of the 
Saint's labors, and the fact that they have 
been chronicled at considerable length by 
the BoUandists and other writers, particu- 
larly of Spain. 

We are aware that recently an elabo- 
rate life of our Saint has been pubHshed 
by a Dominican of the English province. 
Father Wilberforce. This work is written 
in a very pleasing style, and displays both 



INTRODUCTION. 



vu 



learning and research. The present sketch 
is by no means intended to rival this life. 
Indeed, it is but just to say that our 
translation was made before the English 
work was announced, though circumstances 
delayed its publication. But inasmuch as 
this more complete life will not be ac- 
cessible to many American readers, we feel 
that there is sufficient room for the brief 
sketch here presented. To those, however, 
who desire to learn fuller details of our 
Saint's life we heartily recommend Father 
Wilberforce's book. 

We also give the lives of two other 
Dominicans, both foremost among the 
noble soldiers of Christ who carried the 
banner of the Cross to the savage tribes 
of this Western world, and who, under 
the purple and the mitre, never ceased 
to be the faithful followers of their holy 
Father. 



Vlll INTRODUCTION, 

As first bishop on the American con- 
tinent, Julian Garces deserves special re- ' 
membrance. The memory of his saintly 
brother, Jerome de Loaysa, should also 
be dear to every lover of virtue and 
learning. The first Bishop and Archbishop 
of Lima, he is the leader of the holy 
and illustrious line of prelates who have 
successively filled that great see. 

As showing us types and representatives 
of the Dominican missionaries and the 
Dominican bishops of North and South 
America, these lives have a certain unity. 
They may also have a particular interest 
for those who read the opening chapters 
of our early missionary history as given 
in the lives of Columbus and the Vene- 
rable Las Casas, published several years 
ago by the translator. 

The author from whose work these 
present sketches are chiefly taken enjoys 



INTRODUCTION, IX 

world-wide celebrity. Father Touron \ 
pved and wrote in the golden age of ^ 
"rench literature. Born in 1686, he be- 
|ame a Dominican in early life and died in 
[lis convent in Paris in 1775. Most of his 
rorks were published before 1 760. All of 
lem are valuable, but his '' Lives of the 
[llustrious Men of the Dominican Order" 
are the best known. This work received 
unqualified praise from Benedict XIV., 
doubtless the most learned pope and 
one of the most profound scholars of the 
eighteenth century. Following such a 
guide, we can have every confidence in the 
accuracy of his statements. We have used 
Father Roze's work in writing the sketch 
of Archbishop de Loaysa only. 

And yet when the eye of contempla- 
tion is turned upon the broad, deep stream 
of English literature that keeps ever roll- 
ing on in this latter half of the nineteenth 



X INTRODUCTION, 

century, a feeling of misgiving is natu- 
rally excited as to the propriety of launch- 
ing upon it such an antiquated-looking 
craft as the life of a Saint of the Catholic 
Church. We make the venture, however, 
trusting that its brevity will commend our 
little book to the busy people who have 
neither time nor inclination to read a 
large work, and that its historical accuracy 
and value will render it acceptable to 
others who would have no interest in its 
ascetic features. 

The translation, it may be remarked, 
does not rigidly adhere to the original. 
We have incorporated in our text facts 
drawn from other sources, besides add- 
ing a number of notes which, it is hoped, 
will prove of interest to the reader. 



Convent of St. Vincent Ferrer, 

New Yorky January 6, 1884, Feast of the Epiphany, 



CONTENTS. 



St. Louis Bertrand, O.R, Apostle of New Granada. 

PAGE 

Chapter I. — His Birth and Early Life, • . . . i 
Chapter H. — His Vocation as a Dominican, ... 8 
Chapter HL — He is ordained Priest — Death of his 

Father — He is appointed Master of Novices, , . 14 
Chapter IV. — Commencement of his Missionary Life, . 27 
Chapter V. — He asks and obtains Permission to de- 
vote himself to the American Missions — His Won- 
derful Success among the Natives and Spaniards, . 39 
Chapter VL — He returns to Spain — His Holy Life 

still continued Twelve Years, 67 

Chapter VH. — His Last Sickness and Death — Honors 
paid to his Remains — His Canonization, . • .81 

Julian Garces, O.P., First Bishop of Tlascala, now 
Puebla, Mexico, 95 

Jerome de Loaysa, O.P., First Bishop and Arch- 
bishop OF Lima, Peru. 

Chapter L — His Early Life — He is appointed Bishop 
of Carthagena, iii 

Chapter H. — He is appointed First Bishop of Lima, . 120 

Chapter HL — He receives the Pallium as First Arch- 
bishop of Lima — Establishment of the University, . 125 

Chapter IV, — His Labors for the Advancement of Re- 
ligion and the Welfare of the Natives — His Courage 
and Prudence, . 132 

Chapter V. — Foundation of the great Hospital of St. 
Anne — Death of the Archbishop, .... 144 



St. Louis Bertrand, 

OF THE ORDER OF PREACHERS, APOSTLE OF NEW 
GRANADA. 



..,!8T' 



I %ixm 'Mnknntt 



OF THE ORDER OF PREACHERS, APOSTLE OF NEW 
GRANADA. 




CHAPTER I. 

HIS BIRTH AND EARLY LIFE. 

I HE life of Saint Louis Bertrand, 
written with much care by John 
Lopez, Bishop of Monopoli, in 
Naples, and abridged in the Bull of Canoni- 
zation, presents us a perfect model of a dis- 
ciple of Jesus Christ — a man truly and con- 
stantly religious and at the same time ever 
penitent, in whom we see the heroic virtues 
which have made the apostles and saints of 
the First Order of St. Dominic shine forth 
in all their brightness. 

He was born in the city of Valencia,*^ in 

* Valencia is the capital of a province (once a kingdom) of 
the same name in eastern Spain, situated on the river Guada- 



2 ILLUSTRIOUS DOMINICANS, 

Spain, on the first day of January, 1526, in 
the reign of Charles V. and in the pontifi- 
cate of Pope Clement VI I. His father, 
John Louis Bertrand, a notary by profes- 
sion, and his mother, Jane Anna Exarch, 
lived according to the rules of the Gospel, 
and inspired their numerous family with the 
same sentiments of religion, honor, and pro- 
bity with which they were themselves so 
fully imbued. Their children, nine in num- 
ber, heartily corresponded with the pious so- 
licitude displayed in their Christian educa- 
tion. And if Louis, being the first-born of 
his brethren, attracted the special attention 
of his parents, it is but just to say that he far 
surpassed them all in sanctity, and that his 
efforts in this direction began almost in his 
infancy. In his earlier years he seems to 
have set before his mind the example of 

laviar, four miles from the Mediterranean Sea. Its present 
population is about one hundred and fifty thousand souls. It 
is very ancient, having been founded by Junius Brutus one 
hundred years before Christ. Its cathedral, of the mixed 
Grecian and Gothic styles, dates from A.D. 1262. It was en- 
larged in 1482. 




ST. LOUIS BERTRAND. 3 

St. Vincent Ferrer as the model of his life ; 
for, having the honor of being his relative in 
the flesh, he endeavored all the more to be 
united to that great Saint in spirit by the imi- 
tation of his virtues.*^ God blessed the holy 
emulation of which His grace was the living 
principle. The most precious favor conferred 
upon our Saint was, that grace seems to have 
led him by the hand, giving him a triumph 
over himself, drawing him away from such 
occasions as might have sullied the inno- 
cence of his soul, and happily inspiring him 
with a contempt for earthly things, a great 
love of perfection in the spiritual life, and 
a strong desire for Heaven. This was re- 
marked in the very infancy of our Saint ; 
and as he grew in years he advanced in 
wisdom and virtue. Docile to the warn- 
ings and instructions of the interior moni- 
tor, he seems to have forestalled the teach- 

* It is worthy of note, as recorded in the Bull of his Canoni- 
zation, that St. Louis Bertrand was baptized in the same font 
of St. Stephen's Church, Valencia, from which St. Vincent Fer- 
rer, almost two hundred years before, had received the sav- 
ing waters of regeneration. 



4 ILLUSTRIOUS DOMINICANS. 

ing of his parents in the exercise of all the 
practices of a holy life. He loved retire- 
ment ; he prayed much and with great fer- 
vor ; and before the flesh could rebel against 
the spirit he had brought it to obedience by 
mortifications of which his tender age was 
scarcely capable. He was very often found 
on his knees in the least frequented parts of 
the house ; and if he carefully avoided the 
trifles and amusements of other children, he 
also kept close guard against everything that 
might flatter his senses in regard to sleep or 
food. He ate very little, and when it was 
possible for him to elude the vigilance of his 
mother he slept on the bare ground or on 
some wretched boards. 

When it became necessary for him to at- 
tend school his literary progress was re- 
markable. The contagion of loose exam- 
ple, instead of weakening his piety, only re- 
doubled his vigilance over himself, so that 
the more he felt the presence of danger 
the more strongly did he fortify himself by 
the thought of the presence of God. In 



ST. LOUIS BERTRAND. 5 

\ Simplicity of heart he sought our Lord, and 
in his pious exercises he received the de- 
\ lightful assurance of divine favor. His con- 
^ stant occupation and joy were in pious read- 
^; ing, in mental prayer, in the company of 
p devout persons whose conversation he cher- 
y ished, and in the frequent reception of the 
t holy sacraments. 

A youth leading such a life could not fail 
to be held up as an example of goodness in 
the city of Valencia. Hence he was univer- 
sally regarded with much respect, and went 
by the name of the little Saint. But his 
opinion of himself was very different ; he 
hardly felt that he had made the least step 
towards serving God or laboring for his sal- 
vation. Whether it was to avoid human ap- 
plause or to satisfy the desire of living in 
greater retirement, he resolved to leave 
home secretly, and to withdraw to a spe- 
cies of desert, that henceforth he might be 
known to God alone. He actually began 
to execute his purpose ; and, going away, 
he left a most touching letter for his fa- 



O ILL US TRIO US DOMINICANS. 

ther, in which he gave an account of his 
conduct and prayed him to accede to his 
desire. Relying on the purity of his in- 
tention, he hoped that his parents, whose 
piety was remarkable, would not be dis- 
pleased. In this he was mistaken. A step 
so little expected disconcerted the whole 
plan. His mother, already in feeble health, 
felt so keenly the absence of her best-be- 
loved child that she was soon reduced to 
the last extremity. Effectual steps were 
soon taken to bring him back. He was 
hotly pursued, and overtaken when seven 
leagues from home. Thus had they the 
pleasure of placing him once more under 
the paternal roof. 

His return filled the whole family with 
joy and restored the health of his mother. 
But from that moment no one ever sup- 
posed that he would engage in the state of 
marriage. He was permitted to dress as an 
ecclesiastic, to live in obedience to the mo- 
tions of the Spirit of God, and to give vent 
to his feelings of charity by the distribution 



ST, LOUIS BERTRAND. 7 

of alms. He was now on the right path, 
and his sincere piety found many ways of 
turning his freedom to good account and of 
daily acquiring new merits. Without detri- 
ment to his studies, he visited the churches 
and hospitals more frequently. His delight 
was to wait on the sick, and to console and 
encourage those stricken with poverty or 
grief. But all these works failed to satisfy 
his constant desire to attain the higher de- 
grees of perfection. To imitate St. Vin- 
cent Ferrer more exactly he desired, like 
him, to sacrifice his liberty in the same state 
of life. 



CHAPTER 11. 

HIS VOCATION AS A DOMINICAN. 

After many fervent prayers and much 
fasting, performed with the intention of 
knowing God's holy will, and after hav- 
ing practised in his father's house all the ex- 
ercises of the cloister, he asked for the habit 
of St. Dominic in the convent of Valencia. 
His innocence, fervor, and reputation would 
at once have procured the favor which he 
begged with much humility and importunity, 
if the delicacy of his appearance and his 
tender age had not been against him. His 
father, perhaps with some exaggeration, 
pleaded the infirm health of his son ; and, 
having been successful in his appeal, he 
built great hopes on the word of the su- 
perior of the convent of Valencia that Louis 
would not be received as long as he was in 
charge. 

The boy was then only in his fifteenth 



P^, 



ST, LOUIS BERTRAND, 



year, and, although his piety had been the 
admiration of all, this did not prevent him 
from ascribing to his sinful life the delay in 
his reception of the habit. He did not lose 
hope, however, but continued to beg the 
great favor of becoming a Dominican. To 
attain this end he used all the means that 
an ingenious piety could inspire, and often 
managed to be in the company of those 
whose institute he loved and whose exam- 
ple he longed to imitate. Sometimes he 
worked in their garden, that he might enjoy 
a little of their conversation ; and he was al- 
most constantly in their church. Not con- 
tent with having spent many hours of the 
day in prayer, he adroitly concealed himself 
in the aisles of the church, so that he might 
pass the night also in reciting the divine 
office, or in hearing the exhortations of the 
prior to his community, and of the novice- 
master to his novices. 

Fidelity so unflinching left no room to 
doubt that his vocation was from God ; and 
this conviction soon set all other considera- 



I O ILL US TRIO US DOMINICANS. 

tions aside. Father John Mico,"^ a man of 
eminent sanctity, having succeeded Father 
James Ferrand in the office of prior, publicly 
invested the holy postulant with the habit of 
his order, notwithstanding the representa- 
tions, prayers, and even threats of his father. 
It was on the twenty-sixth day of August, 
1544, in the nineteenth year of his age, that 
Louis Bertrand obtained by his perseverance 
what was due to his merits. His parents 
and all the friends of his family renewed 
their efforts to turn hirfi from his purpose, 
insisting especially on the argument that his 
health was too weak to bear the rigors of the 
rule. The holy novice, obliged to hear all, 

* Often written Micon. This remarkable man, whose re- 
nown was very great in Spain in his day, was born of humble 
parents in a small town of Valencia about the close of the 
fifteenth century. He became a Dominican priest at Sala- 
manca, and received the doctor's cap on account of his suc- 
cess in studies and teaching. His reputation for preaching 
and holiness of life was so great that the Emperor Charles 
v. requested his superiors to employ him in Valencia in the 
work of preaching to the Moors, with a view to their conver- 
sion. This he did for several years with immense success, 
propagating at the same time, and with special ardor, devotion 
to the Holy Name. 



ST. LOUIS BERTRAND, I I 

answered wisely every reason adduced and 
every letter written to him in this vein ; and, 
as he felt that his vocation was from Heaven, 
he rose superior to all human difficulties, and 
succeeded in silencing some and in making 
others even approve his resolution. His 
father and mother were of the latter class ; 
they not only ceased to oppose him, but ex- 
horted him to persevere, and felt happy in 
having received from Heaven a child in whom 
St. Vincent Ferrer seemed to live again. In 
effect all this was the fulfilment of the de- 
siofn which St. Louis Bertrand had conceived 
in his earliest years, and now he strove man- 
fully to put it into execution. Thus his pro- 
gress in virtue from the time in which he 
received the habit of St. Dominic appeared 
greater than ever, and fully realized the hopes 
of those who promoted his entrance into the 
order. 

Among them Providence gave him as a 
guide one who was most competent to lead 
him far into the pathways of Christian and 
religious perfection. It was Father John 



I 2 ILL US TRIO US DOMINICANS. 

Mico, already mentioned, his first prior, and 
now his father-master. This was one of the 
few men, powerful in word and work, upon 
whom the Holy Spirit of God seems to de- 
light in bestowing so many graces that no- 
thing is wanting. The special attachment of 
this religious to St. Louis Bertrand, and the 
assistance he gave his novice in attaining a 
high degree of sanctity, have been a theme 
of praise among all admirers of the Saint 
himself. He governed the community of 
Valencia for the second time in 1544, when 
St. Louis Bertrand put himself under his di- 
rection. The disciple was worthy of the 
master. Nothing was left undone by which 
the seed of virtue which divine grace had 
planted in the soul of the youth might be 
brought to maturity. He learned to die to 
himself and to his own will, and to live only 
in the spirit of Jesus Christ ; to love the 
cross, humiliation, and contempt ; to attach 
himself to nothing that could tarnish the 
purity of his heart ; to distinguish the gifts 
of nature from those of grace, and to seek 






ST. LOUIS BERTRAND, 13 

no extraordinary means of advancement, but 
ever to cling to the humble performance of 
his duty as a religious. 

All the lessons of virtue were deeply en- 
graven upon his heart, and he daily added 
something to his stock of good works. At 
the completion of the year of noviceship he 
pronounced his solemn vows. From this 
time he was most assiduous in the pursuit 
of theological and ascetic knowledge. 



CHAPTER III. 

HE IS ORDAINED PRIEST — DEATH OF HIS FATHER — 
HE IS APPOINTED MASTER OF NOVICES. 

Before he had completed his twenty- 
second year he was ordered to prepare for 
ordination. It will be borne in mind that 
the decree of the Council of Trent, requiring 
twenty-four years completed as a necessary 
condition for ordination to the order of 
priesthood, had not yet been promulgated. 
About the close of the year 1547 he received 
from the Archbishop of Valencia, with the 
imposition of hands, the sacred dignity and 
power of the priesthood. From what has 
already been written, we may well judge what 
were the dispositions of soul and the renewal 
of faith and piety which he brought to the 
reception of a ministry the exercise of which 
requires angelic purity. 

His burning love for the august Sacrament 

of the Altar and the merit of obedience miti- 

14 



ST. LO UIS BER TRAND, 1 5 

gated his reluctance to have so great a dig- 
nity conferred upon him at so early an age. 
After his ordination he offered the divine 
mysteries every day, except when impeded 
by severe sickness. His preparation for 
Mass consisted of several hours' prayer; and, 
although habitually penitent and strictly 
watchful over himself, he confessed often, 
and with the greatest marks of sorrow. His 
angelic modesty, his fervor, and his tears in- 
spired with devotion all who assisted at his 
Mass. It was said of him that his heart was 
plunged in a burning furnace and penetrated 
with the sacred flames of divine love, which 
raised him to the happy state of the Sera- 
phim and diffused itself over his countenance. 
In his whole conduct, however, a salutary 
fear of the divine judgment always held the 
first place. It was mingled with his extraor- 
dinary graces when receiving the Bread of 
Life. The consolations arising from his fer- 
vor in prayer were not free from it, and the 
rude penances which he inflicted upon him- 
self were its necessary consequence. The 



1 6 ILL US TRIO US DOMINICANS, 

sight of infinite justice, and that justice 
offended, often threw him into a frightful 
alarm, which penetrated the very marrow of 
his bones. That which brought joy and con- 
solation to others often became for him a sub- 
ject of sighs and sorrow. When the brethren 
sometimes advised him to moderate the rigor 
of his penances and relax his mind a little 
by proper recreation, he either responded 
with tears or replied to them in words to 
this effect : '' Alas ! you will not have me 
weep, and you say I must not mourn in 
the bitterness of my heart. Will you have 
me rejoice when I know that I am a mis- 
erable sinner, and cannot tell but that God 
has already pronounced upon me the sen- 
tence of eternal death ? " 

This saving fear, moderated, indeed, by 
equal confidence in the divine mercy, kept 
all his virtues in a proper balance, and ever 
increased in him the spirit of penance and 
humility. We shall not recount the different 
kinds of mortification to which he had re- 
course, and which were a continual martyr- 



ST. LOUIS BERTRAND. I 7 

dom to his senses. He was not the first who 
united the most perfect innocence, guarded 
with jealousy from early youth, to a severe 
penance which lasted as long as life itselt 
It is the direct effect of that heavenly grace 
which we admire in many Christian heroes. 
What will astonish us, however, is that a 
body, naturally feeble and subject to frequent 
infirmities, could have so long borne the 
greatest austerities and almost constant 
vigils, besides the arduous labors of the 
apostolate. 

To the exercise of this holy ministry he 
felt himself drawn by the same special at- 
traction which first brought him to the 
threshold of St. Dominic's order. But he 
took good time to prove himself. He 
wished to exercise himself in obedience for 
several years before entering on the glorious 
career of the missionary. He prized too 
highly the advantages arising from the di- 
rection of his first guide. Father John Mico, 
not to desire to be with him so as to 
have the advantage of his counsels as long 



1 8 ILL USTRIO US DOMINICANS, 

as Providence permitted. In 1548 Father 
Mico was appointed first superior of the 
convent of Lombay, founded by the Duke 
of Gandia,*^ and St. Louis begged it as a 
favor to accompany him thither. In the 
strictest concert they labored to establish 
in the new house the most exact observance. 
Ever guided by the same spirit, ever ani- 
mated by the same zeal for the glory of 
God, they advanced with almost equal step 
on the road to perfection. Their example 
was most edifying, both to the faithful who 
heard their instructions and to the brethren 
of the order who had the happiness of a 
closer union with them in the house of God. 
Father Mico silently admired the wonderful 
progress of the Saint, who, on his part, care- 
fully regarded and cheerfully followed the 
example of his master. His obedience after 
ordination was even more complete, if it 
were possible, than it had been during his 
novitiate. 

But the mutual consolation arising from 

♦Afterwards the great St. Francis Borgia. 



ST. LO UIS BER TRAND. 1 9 

each other's society was of short duration. 
St. Louis, having heard of the sickness of 
his father, received from his superiors orders 
to make haste to Valencia to assist him on 
his death-bed and to console the afflicted 
family. He immediately set out. The ten- 
der love always entertained towards him who 
had been instrumental in the hands of Pro- 
vidence in giving him life brooked no de- 
lay. He was most assiduous in providing 
everything that could promote the happy 
death of his dear father. His firmness under 
these trying circumstances was also wor- 
thy of praise. He received the last sighs of 
his dying parent along with his blessing, 
and redoubled the ardor of his prayers for 
the repose of the departed soul. 

After he had discharged this duty of 
filial affection obedience imposed upon 
him a weighty responsibility. Although not 
yet twenty-six years of age, he was called by 
the community of Valencia in September, 
1 55 1, to assume the office of novice-master. 
His wisdom, prudence, and charity were well 



20 ILL US TRIO US DOMINICANS. 

known, and it was expected that the many 
splendid qualities which he possessed would 
compensate for his want of age, and give 
him an opportunity of being most useful in 
a position that is properly considered the 
most important in the religious life. In all 
this there was no mistake or disappointment. 
The manner in which he acquitted himself 
of his new charge, the prudent maxims 
which he followed, the number of excellent 
subjects he formed for the religious life, 
have caused him to be held up as a model 
for those entrusted with the care and edu- 
cation of novices. Like all men who know 
how to obey well, he also knew how to com- 
mand well, and to cause his commands not 
only to be respected but loved. His first 
lesson was his own example, and he always 
began by realizing in himself what he de- 
sired to enforce among others. The only 
object of his corrections, ever guided by 
discretion and full of sweetness, was the 
spiritual advancement of his novices. His 
whole conduct was regulated by the great 



^7-. LO UIS BER TRAND, 2 1 

precepts of charity, and he was never sus- 
pected of acting from caprice or temper. 
Thus did he gain the affections of those who 
owed him obedience ; for they never doubt- 
ed that his praise or blame was for the best. 
They loved him, therefore, and he loved 
them most sincerely. Ever watchful over 
their spiritual and temporal wants, he sym- 
pathized with them in their weakness, mod- 
erated their ardor by well-timed penances, 
dissipated their fears and scruples, en- 
couraged the timid, animated the tepid, 
and took equal care of the health and con- 
versation of all. He was most careful to 
teach his novices how to pray and to give 
up their own wills. He trained them to 
renounce themselves and resist their special 
desires even in the smallest things, in order 
that their first victories over their own pas- 
sions might dispose them to achieve in time 
much greater victories over the world and 
the devil. 

Fully persuaded that he would render 
himself guilty before God if, in leaving 






2 2 /ZL USTRIO US DOMINICANS. 

faults unpunished, he permitted abuses to be 
introduced, and believing that it is an illusion 
to hope that any one not regular in his 
noviceship will afterwards become observant, 
he was extremely exact in the correction of 
the smallest faults. In doing this he wisely 
took his own time, so that he might attempt 
no correction except with a view to its 
having a good effect ; and often he himself 
performed a part of the penance which he 
had imposed upon others. His earnest de- 
sire to preserve, as far as he could, the re- 
ligious Hfe in all its purity, disposed him to 
send back to the world without any mis- 
givings those who, after repeated warnings 
and corrections, failed to make any im- 
provement in their conduct. He was per- 
suaded, and experience too plainly proves 
the truth of his judgment, that it is infi- 
nitely better and more advantageous to the 
whole body to have a few subjects, but of 
exact fidelity to their vocation, than a great 
number who seem willing to embrace a state 
of life in which holiness is professed, but 



ST. LOUIS BERT RAND, 23 

who make no effort to sanctify themselves. 
Thus they labor, not to honor, but to dis- 
honor the habit which they wear. 

His discernment of spirits, so necessary a 
quality in a master of novices, was one of 
the most prominent traits in the character of 
our Saint. He gave many proofs of it. 
We shall mention only the following as a 
sample of the rest : Two young religious not 
yet under vows were very scrupulous. They 
often consulted him, and apparently mani- 
fested a great desire to regulate their con- 
sciences by his advice and to aim at the very 
highest perfection of their state. But they 
performed no part of what the novice-master 
required of them. He foretold that they 
would lay aside the religious habit. He ex- 
pressed the same judgment in regard to a 
third novice, who wished to know what St. 
Louis thought of a revelation w^ith which he 
considered he had been favored. '' The lev- 
ity of your spirit," said the Saint, *' will drive 
you from one order to another ; you will try 
all, but will remain in none ; you will return 



24 ILL USTRIO US DOMINICANS. 

to the world, where you will not be happy." 
His words were verified in every instance. 

We cannot here give the details of the 
special attention given by our Saint to in- 
duce his novices to sanctify their studies, 
nor the practical instructions he was wont 
to impart to the lay brothers so as to estab- 
lish them in true humility and all the 
other virtues pertaining to their particular 
calling. The good order which he intro- 
duced into his novitiate appeared to renew 
in the whole community the love of regular 
life and the spirit of fervor. His reputation 
became so high in the city of Valencia that 
many persons of all ages confidently ad- 
dressed him, begging him to bring his great 
spiritual lights to bear upon their difficulties, 
doubts, and most embarrassing affairs. 

And now we find Father John Mico, of 
whom we have already spoken, once more 
at the head of this community. This was 
the third time that the votes of his brethren 
had called on him to preside over this con- 
vent. So great was his deference to the 



ST. LOUIS BERTRAND. 2$ 

sentiments of St. Louis that he was accus- 
tomed to send to him many who brought 
their doubts and troubles to himself. These 
two souls seemed to anticipate each other 
in mutually promoting the work of their 
Divine Saviour. But Louis Bertrand, no 
matter how highly he felt himself esteemed, 
looked upon himself only in the light of an 
humble disciple of the man who had been 
so long absorbed in the knowledge and 
practice of the law. The loss of such a 
friend, therefore, could not be felt less sen- 
sibly than that of his own father. Father 
John Mico, to whom some authors give 
the title of Blessed, finished his course in 
the convent of Valencia, August 31, 1555. 
Our Saint received his last words with filial 
affection, and witnessed with much feeling 
the honors paid to the memory of the de- 
ceased. Little children raised their inno- 
cent voices in proclaiming his praise, and 
the devotion as well as the concourse of the 
faithful at his funeral was extraordinary. 
The clergy of Valencia, both secular and re- 



2 6 ILL US TRIO US DOMINICANS. 

gular, the viceroy and the city council, fol- 
lowing the example of their archbishop, 
vied with one another in doing honor to the 
holy man ; and a doctor, who was also a 
canon of the cathedral, pronounced the 
funeral oration from the text, '' Indeed this 
was a just man." ^ 

Don John de Ribera, then Archbishop of 
Valencia, named a commission to draw up 
a verbal process touching the miracles which 
it pleased God to work at the grave of His 
servant. To satisfy the devotion of the 
people, who in their necessities had never 
ceased to cry out to him as to a friend of 
God, it became necessary to remove his 
body several times. At length he was 
placed in the chapel dedicated to the honor 
of his own disciple, St. Louis Bertrand, 
Providence seeming to favor the union in 
death of the two faithful souls who had been 
so closely united in life ; and thus they have 
received together the homage of the faith- 
ful. 

i*' St. Luke xxiii. 47. 



CHAPTER IV. 

COMMENCEMENT OF HIS MISSIONARY LIFE. 

When Father Mico died St. Louis had 
not yet reached the middle time of life. 
He was then not quite thirty years old. 
He had, however, the consolation of seeing 
his novices for the most part make solid 
progress and furnish good grounds for the 
highest hopes in regard to their future 
career. As zeal for the salvation of souls, 
which had always been a special mark of his 
character, now became stronger than ever, 
he desired to combine with his other labors 
that of the apostolic ministry. Efforts were 
made to thwart him in this design. His 
poor health, and even his special unfitness 
for the function of preaching, were strongly 
urged. The office in which he was so suc- 
cessful, and in which he was doing so much 
to promote the best interests of his order, 

seemed to require his exclusive attention. 

27 



2 8 ILL US TRIO US DOMINICAN'S. 

Severe attacks of sickness also were not un- 
usual ; and if he did not succumb altogether 
to his infirmities it was attributed to his 
spirit of fervor, his courage, or, more like- 
ly, to a species of miracle. His voice was 
neither strong nor agreeable. All of these 
circumstances conspired to impress upon his 
superiors and friends the idea that, instead 
of quickly spending himself on work beyond 
his powers, he ought rather to continue the 
work of forming good and holy men who 
would be able to bear the labors of the day 
and the fatigues of the apostolate. This 
was not the design of God in his regard, 
for the moment he put his hand to the 
work all that was thought wanting seemed 
to be abundantly supplied. 

It was not customary to refuse anything 
to so holy a man, especially when he begged 
it with earnest perseverance. His pleadings 
in this case were answered by permission 
to preach ; and his first attempt settled the 
question. His voice, his action, his force, 
all gave him the appearance of a new man. 



ST. LOUIS BERTRAND. 29 

His reputation for sanctity drew around him 
a multitude of hearers. He was soon called 
upon to preach in the largest churches, and 
sometimes in public places where church 
room was wanting. All who heard him lis- 
tened carefully and were moved to a serious 
consideration of their spiritual affairs. The 
power of his words penetrated the most 
obdurate hearts. The most obstinate sin- 
ners retired from his preaching determined 
to regulate their consciences on the rules of 
the Gospel, and to begin a radical reform of 
their manners as the first step to a new life. 
Well would it have been for the people of 
Valencia if they had all turned to good ac- 
count the warnings thus given them from 
Heaven either to avert the scourge that was 
hanging over their heads, or at least to 
profit by its visitation. 

In the year 1557 a frightful plague be- 
gan to afBict the kingdom of Valencia. 
The capital city felt the first effects of it. 
Commerce was interrupted, public assem- 
blies were forbidden, and the superiors of 



30 ILLUSTRIOUS DOMINICANS. 

religious houses dispersed their subjects 
among distant convents where the air was 
less infected with the seeds of contagion. 
Hence St. Louis Bertrand was sent in qua- 
lity of vicar to the hospitium of St. Anne 
of Albaida. This place, being very retired, 
he regarded as a most suitable retreat in 
which he could give himself with greater 
liberty to the exercises of prayer and pen- 
ance, waiting for the opportunity of again 
applying himself to the ministry of the di- 
vine word. But the contagion gradually 
spread itself over the whole country ; and 
the little town of Albaida, with the neigh- 
boring hamlets, was soon included in its 
ravages. It furnished new material for the 
exercise of the charity of our Saint. He 
allowed no limits to be placed to his zeal, 
for as superior he found himself in a posi- 
tion to follow all its motions. The poor, 
the sick, the dying, and the dead, all furnish- 
ed him with occasions for deeds of the most 
ardent devotedness. Without fear for his 
own safety, although he saw so many carried 



fr>»c-' 



ST. LOUIS BERTRAND. 3^ 

away by the pest, he threw himself entirely 
into the work of attending those stricken 
with its poison. He watched till death with 
those to whom he had given the last sacra- 
ments of the Church ; others he buried, hav- 
ing found their bodies abandoned in the 
fields or on the mountains. He brought 
others to the hospitals when there was the 
least room for them ; and many he convey- 
ed to his own convent of Albaida, although 
the community had scarcely the means of 
subsistence, for he was persuaded that God 
would not abandon those who did such works 
in His honor. 

The care of St. Louis for the sick, wheth- 
er in their own houses or in the asylums 
opened for them by public charity, was often 
the means of bringing health to body and 
soul. In the decree of his canonization it 
is proved that he cured many by the impo- 
sition of hands and by prayer. It is relat- 
ed in particular that a religious named Fran- 
cis Alleman, having caught the disease, was 
reduced to the last extremity, when he re- 



3 2 ILL US TRIO US DOMINICANS, 

ceived a visit from the servant of God. 
Those in attendance looked only for his last 
moment, when St. Louis said in a confi- 
dent tone that the sick man would recover. 
The latter took courage, began to hope 
against all hope, and recovered. It was 
thought that nothing short of a miracle 
could have brought about this result. 

At length, through the mercy of God, the 
plague ceased ; not so, however, the pre- 
vailing vices. The most scandalous crimes 
were as common as ever. Injustice, luxury, 
and dissipation were the every-day sins of 
the more wealthy, while the most danger- 
ous ignorance prevailed among the poor, 
notably in the country parts. Profane 
swearing and blasphemy were almost as com- 
mon as conversation itself ; and the grossest 
superstitions of the ill-converted Moors had 
been adopted by the old Christians, who 
were as corrupt as the former, but less given 
to hiding their sins. 

Among the preachers, who used tireless 
vigilance to instruct the people and draw 



ST. LOUIS BERTRAND. 33 

them from the p^ths of iniquity, St. Louis 
Bertrand took the first rank. The fruits of 
his ministry were most abundant. True, in- 
deed, the renown of his virtues gave much 
weight to his words ; but the greatest diffi- 
culties never repelled him when there was 
question of acting with force and firmness 
for the glory of God and the salvation of 
souls. Following the counsel, or rather pre- 
cept, of the Gospel, he always endeavored to 
gain the sinner first by fraternal or secret 
correction. Singly and alone with each one 
he tried to gain his heart. He humbled 
himself before the guilty, and conjured them, 
by all the means which charity could inspire, 
to have pity on themselves and turn away the 
wrath of Heaven by works of penance. If, 
after these admonitions often repeated, the 
scandal did not cease, the Saint hesitated not 
to declaim publicly against public disorders. 
Those whose crimes were hidden, or whose 
hearts were less hardened, ordinarily sub- 
mitted to the influence of divine grace as it 
fell upon them through his ministry. But 



34 ILL USTRIO US DOMINICANS. 

it happened more than once that the most 
culpable, although not pointed out by name, 
feeling that the words of the preacher were 
principally addressed to them, became in- 
dignant ; they determined not to be dragged 
out of the mire in which they wallowed, and 
seemed bent on defeating all his efforts in 
behalf of their souls. 

The case is mentioned of two or three 
gentlemen who, blinded by their own pas- 
sions or incited by the anger of their un- 
happy victims against our Saint, took ex- 
treme measures against him. One of them 
publicly insulted the minister of Jesus 
Christ ; and, the latter being unwilling to 
retract a single word, the wretch attempted 
to throw him down from the pulpit. The 
attack of another is described as follows in 
the decree of his canonization : '* A certain 
nobleman, thinking that St. Louis, in his 
denunciations of scandalous crimes, singled 
him out in particular, threatened him with 
death except the holy man would retract in 
public the words of his sermon. This St. 



i#.:/- 



ST. LOUIS BERTRAND. " 35 

Louis refused to do, and the offended person 
attacked him with an arquebuse on his re- 
turn from the church to the convent. But 
suddenly the weapon was changed into a 
crucifix, and the aggressor, converted by the 
miracle, earnestly begged pardon of God 
and the Saint." * This case was strictly in- 
vestigated in Rome and was attested by 
several witnesses. The humility and mod- 
esty of St. Louis were not less remarkable. 
Lest his companion who witnessed the 
miracle should make it known before the 
proper time, and thereby attract public no- 
tice, which he dreaded even more than 
the assassin's bullet, he was forbidden to 
speak of it except he was questioned, which 
the Saint predicted would not happen for 
thirty years. It was not so easy to hide 
from public recognition the prodigious fruits 
of his ministry in the reconciliation of ene- 
mies and in the deliverance of the oppressed. 

* On account of this event St. Louis Bertrand is represent- 
ed in his pictures as bearing a crucifix whose upright beam 
is formed, at its lower extremity, like the stock of a gun. 



3^ ILLUSTRIOUS DOMINICANS. - 

He often had the consolation of reuniting 
in the bonds of friendship families long at 
variance ; of putting an end to feuds, quar- 
rels, and law-suits ; of freeing from prison in- 
nocent persons who were threatened with the 
loss of honor, and of life itself, by the machi- 
nations and malice of powerful enemies. 

Whilst he thus performed so successfully 
the apostolic functions he continued in 
charge of his novices, whose government he 
had been obliged to resume. The number 
who sought to be his disciples were so great 
that the Blessed Nicholas Factor, a Fran- 
ciscan, was accustomed to compare him -to 
the illustrious and Blessed Jordan of Sax- 
ony, second general of the order, who is 
believed to have invested one thousand per- 
sons with the habit of St. Dominic. 

But he contemplated another mission, 
America had been discovered October 12, 
1492, and the religious fervor of the most 
zealous priests burned for a whole century 
with a strong desire to convert the native 
inhabitants of this country. It is only na- 




ST. LOUIS BERTRAND, 37 

tural to suppose that St. Louis Bertrand 
was of the number of those who wished to 
consume their lives on this mission. For 
him it was enough to arouse his zeal to 
know that in these vast regions there were 
many who were buried in the darkest ido- 
latry and who had never heard the sweet 
name of Jesus Christ. He felt that he was 
called to instruct these savages and to shed 
upon them the blessed light of Gospel truth. 
His labors among his own brethren and 
among people who were of the household of 
the faith appeared to him as nothing com- 
pared with the glory of bringing salvation 
to milHons of heathen souls. It was well 
known also that many faithful Dominicans, 
after having successfully worked in the con- 
version of the natives in some of the con- 
quered provinces, had sealed with their 
blood their attachment to the faith when 
they sought to announce it to other tribes 
in countries little known.*^ He, too, longed 

* Among these may be mentioned Father Louis Cancer, the 
martyr of Florida, who, having attempted the conversion of 



38 ^ ILLUSTRIOUS DOMINICANS, 

for martyrdom, and daily, while celebrating 
the holy Mass, offered with St. Peter 
Martyr the fervent prayer : *' Give me, O 
Lord ! to die for Thee, as Thou hast willed 
to die for me." The sight of the image of 
the martyr St. Vincent aroused within him 
a burning desire to share in his sufferings, 
while the accounts that were then almost 
daily brought to Europe of the glorious 
triumphs and deaths of so many heroes of 
Christ only intensified his longing to give 
his life for the love of his Saviour and the 
salvation of souls. 

the fierce inhabitants of the coast, suffered death at their 
hands on the 25th of June, 1549, on the shore of Espiritu 
Santo Bay. He is ordinarily regarded as the first martyr of 
Jesus Christ in the countr}^ now known as the United States. 
At Tampa, Hillsborough Co., Florida, in the diocese of St. 
Augustine, there is a church erected in his honor and known 
as the Church of St. Louis. 



W: 



CHAPTER V. 

HE ASKS AND OBTAINS PERMISSION TO DEVOTE HIM- 
SELF TO THE AMERICAN MISSIONS — HIS WONDERFUL 
SUCCESS AMONG THE NATIVES AND SPANIARDS. 

From the moment of his ordination to 
the priesthood the thought of martyrdom 
was constantly before him ; and the fire en- 
kindled in his soul by charity caused him to 
look upon all occasions of suffering and of 
dying only as so many graces that it would 
be sinful to neglect. Hence he demanded 
nothing with so much ardor as to have the 
opportunity of shedding his blood for the 
sake of Him Who gave His own life for 
man's salvation. 

A religious of his order, after having 
preached the Gospel several years in the 
West Indies, was at that time in Spain. 
He was preparing to return to the field of 
his labors, furnished with letters from his 
general, Father Vincent Justiniani, giving 

39 



40 ILL US TRIO US DOMINICANS 

him ample powers to take with him any of 
the brethren willing to accompany him and 
likely to be useful on this arduous mission. 
Louis Bertrand looked upon it as a call of 
Providence directed to himself. With de- 
light he offered himself to the good father. 
The remonstrances of his relatives, the tears 
of his novices, the opposition of his prior 
and the whole community of Dominicans in 
Valencia, were of no avail. He answered 
the friends who most opposed his design by 
saying that, in making his religious profes- 
sion, he belonged entirely and exclusively 
to Jesus Christ, Whose interests alone from 
that moment ought to occupy his thoughts. 
To the assembled novices he delivered a 
beautiful and touching address, recommend- 
ing fidelity to their vocation and the exact 
fulfilment of what he had taught them. 
Having received the benediction of his 
prior, which the latter could not refuse with- 
out danger of opposing the will of God, he 
departed from Valencia, his home and na- 
tive place, on the first Sunday of Lent, 



ST. LOUIS BERTRAND. 4 1 

1562. Arriving next day at Xativa, a little 
seaport, he there found the companions of 
his voyage and a youth who demanded two 
favors of him : one was permission to follow 
him, and the other was to receive from his 
hands the habit of his order. The Saint an- 
swered that the first request could not be 
granted because of his extreme youth ; nor 
the second because he was not called to the 
order of St. Dominic, but to that of St. 
Francis, which, indeed, he soon entered as a 
novice. 

Our missionaries finally embarked at Se- 
ville, and their voyage was most successful. 
St. Louis, by his sweetness and modesty, 
soon gained the affection of the ship's offi- 
cers and crew, and won the lasting respect 
and confidence of all by the holy example 
of his life. The vessel became a sort of 
church moving over the waters of the At- 
lantic, so continual was the chanting of the 
divine praises, and so regular were the hours 
of prayer during the course of each day. 
Whenever there were signs of danger all 



4 2 ILL US TRIO US DOMINICANS. 

turned to our Saint ; and one of his own 
brethren was the first to experience his favor 
with God. A pulley having fallen upon the 
head of this person, he was so badly injured 
that he lay for a time covered with blood 
and quite unconscious. Having recovered 
a little, the surgeons were preparing to dress 
his wound when St. Louis, after a short 
prayer, bathed the head of the religious with 
water, then applied his own head to his and 
cured him so perfectly that even the mark 
of the wound did not remain. We may 
well imagine the admiration of all who wit- 
nessed this fact. With one voice they gave 
thanks to God and expressed the conviction 
that the Almighty Himself was bringing this 
holy man to the New World to perform 
wonderful works. 

Landing in that part of South America 
known as Castile d'Oro, on the west bank 
of the Orinoco River, in the province of Ter- 
ra Firma, St. Louis hastened at once to the 
convent of St. Joseph, then a dependency of 
the province of St. John the Baptist in Peru. 



ST. LO UIS BER TRAND, 43 

His object in going to this convent was less 
for the sake of resting from the fatigues of 
the voyage than to prepare himself for mis- 
sionary labors by penitential exercises. Not 
content with continuing the manner of life 
observed in Valencia, he prayed with renewed 
fervor, and increased his fastings and watch- 
ings in order to obtain from Heaven a bless- 
ing on the work of converting the infidels 
in which he was about to engage. In the 
course of his new career he added many aus- 
terities to his ordinary mortifications, such as 
lying on the bare ground, exposed not only 
to the unhealthy air but also to the annoyance 
of insects with which the country abounded. 
Either through disinterestedness, or love of 
suffering, or confidence in the care of Him 
Who watches over every life, or by a com- 
bination of all these motives, he refused to 
receive from the Spaniards or Indians the 
assistance usually extended to missionaries. 
This often caused him to feel the sharp trials 
of hunger, thirst, and other inconveniences 
of the most wretched poverty. A life so 



44 ILL us TRIO US DOMINICANS. 

thoroughly apostolic could not fail to inspire 
hope in the success of its mission ; and that 
hope was more than realized. 

St. Louis was sent by his superiors to 
preach in different places ; at one time to 
the Isthmus of Panama, again to the island 
of Tobaga ; afterwards to the whole pro- 
vince of Carthagena and several other coun- 
tries.^ Everywhere he preached with much 
fruit, making great numbers of converts. 
The first grace for which our Saint prayed 

^ The countries here mentioned are mostly all on the north- 
ern coast of South America. The reader will bear in mind 
that although St. Louis Bertrand was doubtless the most pro- 
minent figure among the Dominican missionaries of South 
America, he was by no means among the earliest. The re- 
nowned Las Casas, so often mentioned with highest praise 
by English and American historians, had labored largely and 
most beneficially in the interests of the poor Indians fifty years 
before the advent of St. Louis. Thus, for instance, he was 
created '^Protector-General " of the Indians by a decree of 
Cardinal Ximenes in 1517, which was confirmed by Charles 
v. in 1519. He devoted the whole of his long life as a priest 
to this object ; and he was still living, an octogenarian, in the 
convent of Valladolid when St. Louis set out for America. 
We may conclude from this that the wonderful success of St. 
Louis may have been greatly promoted by the favorable im- 
pression made upon the natives by the previous labors of 
other Dominicans. 




ST, LOUIS BERTRAND. 45 

was that he might be understood by those 
to whom he came to announce the word of 
God. But this was not the only favor that 
signalized his apostolate. The gifts of pro- 
phecy and miracles also contributed very 
much to increase the multitude of souls who 
were the seal and the happy effect of the 
power he had received from God. 

And this is no new thing ; for we read in 
the holy Gospel according to St. Mark these 
undying words : '' And these signs shall fol- 
low them that believe : In My name they 
shall cast out devils ; they shall speak with 
new tongues. They shall take up serpents, 
and if they shall drink any deadly thing it 
shall not hurt them. They shall lay their 
hands upon the sick, and they shall re- 
cover.''"^ History recounts the fulfilment of 
all these in the ministry of our apostle. By 
the invocation of the name of Jesus Christ 
he expelled evil spirits from those whom 
they possessed ; he gave health to the sick, 

* St. Mark xvi. 17, 18. 



46 ILL us TRIO US DOMINICANS. 

and inspired sentiments of faith and hope in 
all who heard him. He either spoke the 
languages of the nations to whom he an- 
nounced the faith, or the nations understood 
him when he spoke his mother-tongue. And 
this latter, according to St. Thomas Aquinas, 
is no less a miracle. The enemies of vir- 
tue often became his enemies also ; and 
when he tried to correct them they endea- 
vored to remove him by poison. A mortal 
draught was thus once prepared for him ; 
but though he drank it, not knowing the poi- 
son it contained, it did not harm him. All 
these facts, and many others which we may 
have occasion to mention in their proper 
places, are published and fully verified in the 
Bull of Canonization of our Saint. 

We may mention here a singular event : 
When St. Louis was preparing to evangelize 
the district of Tubara, an Indian, still a hea- 
then, who dwelt in the mountains, brought 
to him a child almost dead, begging him to 
baptize it. He had been informed that this 
sacrament would insure for his child an im- 




ST. LOUIS BERTRAND. 47 

mortal and a happy life.^ The Saint, admir- 
insf such sentiments in the mouth of an ido- 
later, gave the child baptism with the name 
Michael. He died soon after ; but the spiri- 
tual regeneration of this elected soul was the 
first-fruit of a large harvest in the country to 
which he belonged. This was so abundant 
and so glorious for St. Louis that in three 
years he brought more than ten thousand 
persons under the sweet yoke of Jesus 
Christ. f Those who were not convinced by 
his words nor moved by the sanctity of his 
life were completely subdued by the miracles 
which he performed in their presence. Their 
sick were healed by the prayer or touch 
of the servant of God ; the evil spirits were 
put to flight by his mere presence ; tempests 



* This Indian had been thus taught by an Angel, as is 
related in the Bull of Canonization. 

f These numbers may appear wonderful, but when we re- 
member that the converts of St. Louis Bertrand were all noted 
for the thoroughness with which they had been instructed, 
and the fidelity with which they persevered in his teach- 
ings, surprise gives way to admiration, and we exclaim : 
Truly, here is the finger of God. 



4^ ILL US TRIO US DOMINICANS. 

were stilled ; and the most ferocious animals 
were tamed by the sign of the cross. The 
natives were more and more attracted by his 
instructions. They emulated one another in 
learning the law of the Lord ; they opened 
their hearts to the influence of faith ; they 
corrected their manners ; they broke their 
idols, renounced their vain superstitions, and 
gladly assisted by the labor of their hands in 
erecting altars to the true God. A cacique,* 
having avowed to St. Louis that he dared 
not come to hear him on account of the 
terrible threats of the demon if he should 
abandon his idolatry, took courage when he 
saw the Saint trample under foot the very 
idols to which he had long offered sacrifice. 
He and his whole family believed in Jesus 
Christ ; and in a short time not a single 
heathen was to be found in Tubara or its 
environs. 

The faith being thus established in this 
country, where it is still preserved, St. 

* An Indian chief. 



ST, LOUIS BERTRAND. 49 

Louis committed to others the care of cul- 
tivating the seed that he had planted, and 
resolved to bear to other places the torch 
of Gospel light. He visited districts known 
in the Indian dialects as Cipacoa and Paluato. 
There he met a Spanish governor, who re- 
ceived him with much distinction ; and the 
natives showed no less docility in hearing 
the word of God than those of Tubara. 
Thus the labors of this apostle, who was 
called by the Indians God's own religious 
man, produced the most cheering results. 
The natives, to spare him the trouble of 
going to seek after them, came out of the 
woods and descended from the mountains 
to hear him. Attentive to his preaching 
and preparing themselves to receive bap- 
tism, they presented their little children in 
the meantime to secure this grace for them. 
One out of the many miracles recorded of 
him at this time was that he obtained by his 
prayers a copious and most necessary rain. 
For a long time a drought had prevailed to 
such an extent as to threaten the people 



50 ILLUSTRIOUS DOMINICANS. 

with famine. They begged St. Louis to 
help them with his prayers. This was on 
the 24th of November. He put them off till 
the next day ; appointed the place in which 
they were to assemble for prayer, and 
promised to meet them there, assuring them 
that their prayers would be heard. And 
so it happened. Abundant rain fell upon 
the earth, and the plentiful crops which fol- 
lowed were a symbol of the large number 
whom the servant of God received in that 
region into the household of the faith. 

Some of the inhabitants of the country 
bordering on Paluato did not manifest such 
favorable dispositions. Slaves of their pas- 
sions even more than of their idols, they 
pretended to be afraid of the wrath of their 
gods if they desisted from offering them 
sacrifices. In truth, their wickedness closed 
their ears against the word of God. Not- 
withstanding their coldness, St. Louis re- 
mained with them some time, and used all 
the means which his zeal could inspire to 
draw them from their errors. He offered to 



ST. LOUIS BERTRAND. 5^ 

God his prayers, his tears, and his penances, 
that these blind pagans might receive light 
from on high. But it seemed to no purpose, 
and he retired from them, having converted 
only two persons in the whole district. We 
shall see hereafter that God had chosen a 
much larger number, whom He called to the 
faith in His own good time. 

After this apparently unsuccessful mission 
St. Louis, whose zeal recognized no obstacle, 
undertook the conversion of a people known 
generally as the Caribbees, in the Indian dia- 
lect Callinagi. They were naturally a cruel, 
savage, and most intractable race, and withal 
extremely superstitious. Hitherto the preach- 
ers of our holy faith seemed to have aban- 
doned them to the darkness in which they 
appeared to be irretrievably plunged ; or, if 
some good priests had made the attempt to 
humanize and instruct them when the Span- 
iards first invaded Mexico, no trace of their 
work remained. Our Saint did not despair 
of their salvation. He felt that all things 
are possible to Him Who has marked the 



5 2 ILL US TRIO US DOMINICANS. 

hours and moments in which His mercy is to 
be manifested. Full of this thought, and 
counting as nothing the sacrifice of his life, 
he penetrated Guiana, the country of the 
Caribbees, with much difficulty and hardship. 
He traversed forests and climbed mountains 
in order to find these poor infidels and per- 
suade them to become Christians. We 
have no details regarding the success of 
this mission. Mention is made of the con- 
version of a cacique, and of some Negroes 
who had probably been taken from the 
Spaniards by these Indians. It appears evi- 
dent that his success in this place hardly cor- 
responded with his zeal in the cause; ani 
we know that his perils were even greater 
than his fatigues. Once, having shown 
contempt for some special object of their 
idolatry, they resolved to poison him. The 
act followed quickly the resolution. The 
poison was so violent that the Saint had 
hardly taken it when he was attacked with 
terrible pains and soon reduced to the last 
extremity. Well satisfied to die for the 



\^:. ' 



ST. LOUIS BERTRAND. 53 

glory of Jesus Christ, he offered up his life 
without the least regret, and embraced his 
crucifix more confidently and more lovingly 
than ever. But other labors among these 
infidels were in store for him. After five 
days of convulsive agonies he recovered, 
manifestly by the special providence of 
God, and to the great astonishment of the 
Indians. It was more than they could un- 
derstand to see him exercising again as 
zealously as ever the works of his ministry, 
declaiming vehemently against the vanity 
of idols, preaching everywhere the name 
of Jesus Christ and the necessity of faith in 
Him for all who would escape the fire of 
hell. God Himself continued to confirm 
the truth of his words by new miracles. 
Whenever the demons assumed strange ap- 
pearances or fantastic forms to impose upon 
their votaries or to disturb those who had 
embraced the faith, our Saint soon put them 
to flight by the sign of the cross. And al- 
though the Caribbean priests, much more 
stubborn in their errors than other pagans 



54 ILL USTRIO US DOMINICANS, 

in these parts, ever resisted the ministry of 
St. Louis in the same manner as the magi- 
cians of Pharao had resisted Moses, he 
did not fail to draw great numbers to the 
truth. These he rescued from- the darkness 
of idolatry as well as from the mire of ini- 
quity. 

On the mountains of St. Martha his suc- 
cess was very great. The people, less harden- 
ed in crime, and therefore more docile to 
grace, received our apostle as an angel sent 
from Heaven to show them the way thither. 
They crowded around him to hear his instruc- 
tions, which they speedily reduced to prac- 
tice. Their example was favorable among 
their neighbors. Whilst St. Louis was oc- 
cupied in this mission he had the happiness 
of receiving fifteen hundred of the Indians 
of Paluato, who, as we said in another place, 
had at first resisted the grace of God, but 
who now showed every sign of true conver- 
sion. They openly declared that their jour- 
ney had been undertaken for no other pur- 
pose than to receive baptism, which they had 




ST. LOUIS BER TRAND 5 5 

refused when it was preached to them in their 
own country. St. Louis adored the good- 
ness of God ; began at once to instruct these 
Indians along with those of St. Martha, and 
before he descended from the mountain he 
had baptized fifteen thousand persons. 

Thence he passed into the country of Mom- 
pox, and then into the island of St. Thomas, 
where he gained over another people to the 
faith of Christ and achieved new victories 
for the Church. The special protection of 
the Almighty here, as elsewhere, clearly 
manifested itself in his regard. One day as 
he was preaching under a large tree to a 
multitude of people, a troop of infidels, arm- 
ed with arrows and rocks, were seen ap- 
proaching. They were intent upon avenging 
their gods, as they supposed, by the death of 
him who threw down their idols and destroy- 
ed the groves and temples dedicated to their 
honor. The Saint's friends, seeing the dan- 
ger, begged him to flee promptly from the 
fury of the barbarians. He declined the ad- 
vice and exhorted his hearers to fear nothing ; 



5^ ILL US TRIO US DOMINICANS. 

" for," said he, *' they will lose all power of 
doing what they wish to do " ; and he con- 
tinued his preaching with the greatest tran- 
quillity. What he predicted was more than 
realized. The infidels, having come within 
hearing distance of the Saint, suddenly stop- 
ped, listened in respectful silence, and two 
hundred of them demanded baptism, declar- 
ing themselves Christians. A cacique with 
his family soon followed their example, and 
became, in a certain sense, a preacher of the 
Gospel, the power and excellence of which 
he fully recognized. 

Among the numerous conversions wrought 
by our Saint, the details of which are be- 
yond our reach, the most difficult, no doubt, 
were those of the idolatrous priests. In truth, 
the rescue of these from the evil one brought 
upon St. Louis many persecutions. Those 
among the pagan priests who did not follow 
the example of their brethren in renouncing 
their superstitions became instruments of the 
malice of the old serpent by attacking the 
life and honor of the man who labored 



ST. LOUIS BER TRAND, 5 7 

to pull down his throne. Open violence 
was offered to him ; deadly weapons and 
poison were used to cause his destruction. 
But the protection of God foiled all these at- 
tempts upon his life. At last calumny was 
resorted to in order to bring discredit upon 
the preacher and his doctrine. To this end 
they employed an Indian woman who had 
been to all appearance lately converted, but 
who was unfaithful to the grace of baptism 
and unmindful of the instructions she had 
received. First she allowed herself to be 
corrupted by a Spaniard, and this sin brought 
on another. The consequence of her crime 
becoming manifest, and her accomplice ex- 
pecting to be rigorously punished, he induc- 
ed her to accuse St. Louis Bertrand. The 
Saint, long accustomed to the rudest trials 
and conscious of his innocence, continued 
his usual functions of prayer and preaching, 
whilst his enemies took pains to spread the 
evil report far and wide. God Himself de- 
fended him. The adulterous woman con- 
fessed her crime before the judge ; and her 



5 ^ ILL USTRIO US DOMINICANS. 

wicked partner in guilt, forced to acknow- 
ledge the truth, would have been punished 
with all the severity of the law if St. Louis, 
by an excess of charity, had not interposed 
in his behalf. 

Thus the man who waged unrelenting war 
on error and corruption was exposed not 
merely to the violence of barbarian infidels, 
but, what was much worse, to the malicious 
cunning of bad Christians. The slaves of 
evil passions left nothing undone by which 
to drive away this rigid censor of their liber- 
tinism or to silence him for ever. Some- 
times they induced persons of bad character 
to visit his poor cabin at unseasonable hours, 
but always to their own confusion and dis- 
grace. Again, by a more profound dissimu- 
lation, they would affect to praise him and 
pretend that he was unjustly treated ; but 
whilst appearing as his panegyrists in pub- 
lic they secretly favored his detractors and 
industriously procured the spreading of 
evil reports against him. It is ever so 
in this world ; when vice is reproved it 



ST, LOUIS BERTRAND, 59 

seeks revenge on those who strive to 
check it. 

But St. Louis sought only the glory of 
God in all things ; and as he placed all his 
confidence in divine aid, it was never wanting 
in time of need. The more his enemies 
sought to cry down his character the more 
the Almighty seemed inclined to give him 
greater glory by new prodigies. Often his 
prayers calmed the furious tempest, rendered 
venomous reptiles harmless, and tamed wild 
beasts. There were many witnesses of the 
accomplishment of several of his prophecies ; 
and so great was his influence among the 
people that his mere presence was sufl5cient 
to appease the most violent seditions. A 
remarkable instance of this took place in the 
island of Granada. 

He was no less powerful in word and 
work in the city of Carthagena.*^ The ef- 

* Carthagena is one of the oldest, and still continues to be 
one of the most important, cities of South America. It is sit- 
uated on the Caribbean Sea, a few miles west of the mouth of 
the Magdalena River, with which it is connected by a canaU 



60 ILL US TRIO US DOMINICANS. 

fects of his preaching during an entire Lent 
were indeed extraordinary. The most ob- 
durate sinners could not withstand the 
force of his eloquence, and still less the in- 
fluence of his example, for a heroic firmness 
and a long-tried patience strongly supported 
the truths he delivered. Even his most 
signal miracles in healing the sick, and the 
raising to life of a dead woman by the 
application of his rosary, did not give greater 
weight to his words than his wonderful vir- 
tues. 

The Indians and the Spaniards settled 
among them would have deemed it a great 
happiness to enjoy for a longer period the 
ministry of our apostle. For nearly eight 
years he had bent his whole energy to 
bring the former to the knowledge and 
faith of Christ our Lord. He labored with 

It is only ten degrees north of the equator. It is a well-built 
city and a place of much trade, having a population of about 
ten thousand. It was founded by Pedro de Heredia in 1533, 
and was for a long time the principal seaport of the Spaniards 
in South America, It is well supplied with churches and 
convents. 



ST. LOUIS BERTRAND. 6 1 

no less zeal to moderate in the latter 
their tyranny and their insatiable greed for 
gold. The many obstacles he encountered 
in the latter work greatly retarded the suc- 
cess of his preaching, and finally determined 
him to return to Spain. He would not 
quit his mission, however, until he had en- 
deavored to know the will of God by- means 
of fervent prayer. He also consulted his 
superior, whose instructions he strictly fol- 
lowed. As soon as his intentions were 
known in America the numerous Christians 
of whose conversion he was the instrument 
united their prayers to those of the other 
missionary priests that he would remain 
with them. The religious of the convent of 
St. Antoninus in Carthagena used every 
means in their power to prevent his depar- 
ture ; those of the convent of Santa F6 
(holy Faith) elected him prior, and their 
choice was confirmed by the provincial of 
the province of St. John the Baptist of 
Peru, who obliged him by a formal precept 
to accept the charge. 



6 2 ILL US TRIO US DOMINICANS. 

Under these circumstances the servant 
of God at once disposed himself to obey, 
and, in effect, embarked on the River 
Magdalena ^ to reach the convent of Santa 
Fe. But Providence seemed after all to 
favor his return to Spain. Violent and 
contrary winds prevailed to such an extent 
that the trip, ordinarily made in twenty-four 
days, was not half finished in thirty. While 
laboring under these difficulties shipwreck 
was added to their misfortunes. The boat 
on which our Saint and several persons 
were placed was capsized ; and the fortu- 
nate escape of all from a watery grave was 
attributed to his presence and prayers. Fif- 
teen days after their departure a canoe was 
sent after the vessel, with letters for St. 
Louis from the general of his order, Father 



* The Magdalena is a well-known river of South America, 
the general course of which is from near the equator north- 
wardly to the Caribbean Sea. It is about nine hundred miles 
long and navigable for five hundred and fifty miles. The 
Santa Fe mentioned in the text is three hundred and fifty 
miles from its mouth. 



fi 

ST, LOUIS BERTRAND. 63 

Justiniani, giving him full permission to 
return to Spain. 

Having received these letters, St. Louis 
sent a copy of them to his provincial, whose 
orders he was actually carrying out; he 
bade adieu to the brethren of Santa F6 * 
and returned to Carthagena by the same 
route on which he had come. In a few 
days he arrived at the town of Teneriffe, 
where a gentleman, who had no less tender 
regard for his person than veneration for 
his virtues, received him with open arms. 
It was soon reported that in eight days a 
fleet of vessels would be ready to sail from 
Carthagena to Spain. The good friend of 
our Saint prepared in haste all necessary 
provisions for the voyage, and when he 
supposed that the vessels were ready to sail 
he came to ask his blessing, remarking that 
it was time to go on board. But St. Louis 
answered that the time had not yet come. 
*' I shall stay with you," said he, " for fifteen 

f This is now Santa Fe de Bogota, the capital of New 
Granada. 



64 ILL us TRIO US DOMINICANS. 

days." The answer was a most agreeable 
surprise to the gentleman ; but he did not 
know till after the event that the servant 
of God was destined to prepare his wife for 
a most holy death by giving her the last 
sacraments of the Church, and also to bap- 
tize her child prematurely born. All this 
happened in a few days and when the gen- 
tleman least looked for it. The horrible 
hissing of a serpent of immense size having 
frightened the poor woman, she hastily ran 
away and fell with fright. This caused a 
miscarriage and her death. The presence 
of our Saint could not prevent the acci- 
dent ; but it was of the greatest value, in 
the spiritual sense, both to the mother 
and her child. 

During the three weeks' stay of St Louis 
at Teneriffe he preached with his usual suc- 
cess; and the natives of this place showed 
scarcely less sorrow at his departure than was 
manifested in other parts of New Granada 
by the Indians, who were inconsolable for 
their loss. Down to our own times they 



ST, LOUIS BERTRANa 65 

have ever preserved the greatest veneration 
for the man whom God glorified in their 
sight, and to whose prayers, no doubt, we 
may attribute their perseverance in the faith 
which he preached. The spot in which he 
made his last stay with them is covered by a 
chapel, in which both Spaniards and Indians 
often assemble to pray and to obtain favors 
from God through the intercession of our 
Saint. He is commonly known by the 
name of the Apostle of the New World, and 
with reason. He is often compared with the 
illustrious St. Francis Xavier, who a few 
years previously had accomplished in Japan 
what St. Louis, with no less success, carried 
out in South America. Their preaching, 
their apostolic labors, and their miracles ex- 
tended over a wide field the kingdom of 
Jesus Christ and the knowledge of His 
law. They subjected to His sweet yoke 
many barbarous tribes, and they planted the 
standard of the cross as the chief object of 
veneration among vast numbers who had be- 
fore known only idols and their worship. 



66 ILL USTRIO US DOMINICANS. 

One of these saints finished a glorious career 
in seeking new nations to bring them into 
the true fold ; whilst the other was allowed 
by Providence to return to his native land, 
there carefully to train other ministers to con- 
tinue his labors in the conversion of the 
heathen. 



CHAPTER VI. 

HE RETURNS TO SPAIN— HIS HOLY LIFE STILL CON- 
TINUED TWELVE YEARS. 

We shall not give the details, as they are 
found in the old authors, regarding the voy- 
age of our Saint from Carthagena to Spain. 
His faith in God and his unshaken courage 
amid the perils of the ocean won the admira- 
tion of all on board. In the month of 
October, 1569, he arrived at Valencia, just 
seven years and six months after his depar- 
ture thence for America. Nothing could ex- 
ceed the demonstrations of joy with which 
he was received by his religious brethren and 
fellow-citizens. In the midst of all this joy, 
however, he heard of the death of his bro- 
ther, also a Dominican priest, who had re- 
ceived the habit from his old friend, Father 
John Mico, and who was shipwrecked on 
the coast of Sardinia on his way to Lom- 

bardy. This intelligence caused our Saint to 

67 



68 



ILLUSTRIOUS DOMINICANS. 



sigh more and more for the undying joys of 
Heaven, now possessed, as he hoped, by his 
younger^ brother. 

He had not come back to Spain to lead a 
life of ease, and therefore he shrank from 
no labor with which he was charged. His 
wonderful tact in the instruction of novices 
was fully recognized, and it was once more 
employed in the service of religion. He was 
placed at the head of the community of St. 
Onuphrius, and afterwards of that of Valen- 
cia."^ To both he was a perfect model of all 
virtue — a veritable, living rule. His coun- 
sels were ever found most wise and prudent ; 
he had the familiarity of a brother, the ten- 
derness of a father, the perfection of a saint, 
and the ready resources of a friend of God. 
Under his government the two convents 
became illustrious sanctuaries in which the 
spirit of prayer and penance was renewed 
with great fervor. 

The love of silence and retreat, applica- 

* He was prior of each house three years. 



ST. LOUIS BERTRAND. 69 

tion to Study and labor, as well as zeal for 
the salvation of souls, were the prominent 
features of both convents. He recom- 
mended to his religious nothing so much as 
the good employment of time, purity of 
heart, and a constant endeavor to please God 
by being useful to their neighbor. With 
prudent severity he corrected anything that 
did not accord with the sanctity of their 
state ; and, in order that no one could be 
mistaken as to the first maxim of his govern- 
ment, he caused to be engraven in large 
letters on the door of his cell these words of 
St. Paul : '' If I yet pleased men I should 
not be the servant of Jesus Christ."*^ 

A deep insight into the hearts of his re- 
ligious, which was a special gift from God, 
greatly promoted the sanctity of some, 
and was for others a fresh stimulus to watch 
carefully over their conduct. Many ex- 
amples are mentioned in which his discern- 
ment of conscience was manifest, and often 

* Galatians i. 10. 



70 ILL US TRIO US DOMINICANS. 

he showed an exact knowledge of what 
had happened in distant lands and what 
would happen in the future. It is needless 
to add that these gifts were always used to 
promote God's glory, and to lead such as con- 
sulted him to greater fervor of penance and 
to greater constancy in the good works they 
had undertaken. Three or four facts, to 
which we shall devote only a few lines, will 
prove the truth of these assertions. 

An ecclesiastic of high reputation in Va- 
lencia visited St. Louis one day and was 
coldly received. He was surprised and un- 
easy. But, reflecting on his manner of life, 
he began to understand this silent rebuke. 
He felt that his conduct was not what it 
should have been, and, having humbled him- 
self before God in tearful penance, he was 
on a second visit received by the Saint with 
every mark of friendship and honor. On 
another occasion St. Louis visited, though 
contrary to his custom, a lady of high rank. 
She had hardly ever seen him except in the 
pulpit or at the altar. Her surprise was all 



ST. LO UIS BER TRAND. 7 ^ 

the greater when he exhorted her to avert 
the anger of God and reform her life in cer- 
tain particulars which he mentioned. The 
lady, being in reality a true Christian, ac- 
knowledged her fault and vowed to re- 
nounce the evil, which she had supposed 
was known to God alone. 

Another lady, Dorothea Garcia, being ex- 
tremely afflicted on account of the long ab- 
sence of her husband, who was at sea, sought 
consolation from St. Louis. He at once 
told her that her husband was not dead ; that 
she would again see him at home, and that 
she should pray for him, as he was in need 
of it. News of him soon reached Valencia. 
Dorothea's husband, Don Christopher Perez 
by name, after having been hotly pursued by 
the pirates of Algiers and almost shipwreck- 
ed in a tempest, came safely to port. 

A certain prelate complained to the Saint 
regarding the vexations he suffered from a 
powerful nobleman living near him. Our 
Saint had compassion on him, but declared 
that the crimes of the offending party had 



7 2 ILL US TRIO US DOMINICANS. 

reached their height, and that death would 
soon deliver his victims from further annoy- 
ance. The prophecy was literally fulfilled. 

St Teresa also received from St. Louis 
much consolation. She wrote to him with 
full confidence regarding the many difficul- 
ties and contradictions she encountered from 
all quarters in bringing about her great re- 
form. He offered fervent prayers for her 
success, and sent her the following letter : 
'' I have received your letter ; and, since the 
point on which you ask my advice has re- 
ference to the honor and glory of God, I 
thought it best first to pray for light on the 
subject. This will explain the slowness 
of my answer. Now, I say to you in the 
Name of our Lord Jesus Christ : Go on 
as you have commenced. The Lord will 
assist you ; and I declare in His Name that 
in fifty years hence your reform will be one 
of the most useful, one of the most renown- 
ed in the Church of God." 

Our attention is again arrested by the 
manner in which St. Louis foretold the be- 



ST. LOUIS BERTRAND, 73 

ginning of a religious institute even before 
the founder of it had conceived the idea. 
Here is the fact : John Augustine Adorno, 
a gentleman of ^ Genoa engaged in secular 
pursuits, happened to come to Valencia, and 
visited the Dominican convent. St. Louis 
Bertrand had no sooner seen him than he 
offered all manner of friendly regards, at 
which all present were surprised. *' Be not 
astonished," said the Saint ; '' this gentleman, 
who now appears to you as a worldhng, will 
edify the Church by his sanctity, and will 
establish a religious order that will flourish 
in Italy and Spain and be of great utility 
in the salvation of souls." The first part of 
the prediction was soon verified. Adorno 
became strictly religious in his life and man- 
ners. The second part was also fulfilled, 
for he established the order of Regular 
Clerks, which Pope Sixtus V. confirmed 
under the name of Minors."^ 

It happened one year that, in the king- 

* Adorno died in 1590 in the odor of sanctity. 



74 ILL USTRIO US DOMINICANS, 

dom of Valencia, high hopes were entertain- 
ed of a rich harvest and an abundant yield 
of fruits of all kinds. St. Louis, on the 
contrary, predicted that the sins of the peo- 
ple would cause Providence to blast these 
hopes. In effect, an extraordinary drought 
during the early summer months killed the 
seeds that had been planted, and some time 
later excessive rains destroyed the wine- 
crop. This calamity and the partial failure 
of preceding years furnished St. Louis with 
many opportunities of exercising his charity 
towards the poor, and even of saving the 
lives of many. The convent of St. Onu- 
phrius possessed very slender revenues, while 
that of Valencia, having a large number of 
religious, could hardly extend much aid to 
the poor. These circumstances were of no 
weight with the holy prior. He managed 
to distribute large alms every day, and strict- 
ly forbade the porter to let any one go away 
without assistance. In truth, so many per- 
sons were relieved openly and so many poor 
families were assisted privately that those 



P' 



ST. LOUIS BERTRAND, 75 



who knew only a part of it declared that 
Providence, in reward of his faith and cha- 
rity, had multiplied the money and food in 
his hands. His religious heartily seconded 
his intentions, and their charity was abun- 
dantly repaid, for God supplied all their 
wants. 

But the principal occupation of our Saint 
after his return from America was the min- 
istry of the word. In changing the scene 
of action he did not change his method. 
His labor and tears, his prayers and pen- 
ances, were still the true sources of his suc- 
cess. With incredible zeal he fulfilled for 
twelve consecutive years all the functions of 
the apostolic life in several of the dioceses 
of Spain, and particularly in Valencia. Not 
even his special inclination for prayer and 
retirement, nor his infirmities of body, nor 
the occupations which seemed to require his 
constant presence in his community, could 
induce him to give up what he considered 
the essential duty of his vocation. Only 
God Himself, the omniscient Witness, could 



76 ILL USTRIO US DOMINICANS. 

see the fruits of his ministry in the instruc- 
tion of the ignorant, the conversion of sin- 
ners and the extirpation of vice. 

Remarkable were the number and merit 
of the evangelical workers who were formed 
on the model of our Saint, and who, having 
received the finishing lessons from so able 
a master, became distinguished preachers 
themselves. The celebrated Jerome Baptist 
de Lanuza, as renowned among the preachers 
of the sixteenth century as he was among 
the bishops of the seventeenth, declared that 
he had received his first lessons from our 
Saint. He received the habit of the order 
in September, 1569, just one month before 
the return of St. Louis from America. 

Following the example of the great St. 
Dominic, St. Louis Bertrand always brought 
with him on his missions a certain number 
of young religious who were destined for 
these labors. It was his delight to pray 
with them, to discuss with them points of 
dogmatic or moral theology, and even to 
practise outside of the convent the same 



ST. LOUIS BERTRAND. 77 

exercises, day and night, as were conducted 
in the most regular communities. In the 
course of their journeys, and amid the great- 
est fatigues, he accustomed his companions 
to seek their relaxation in spiritual conversa- 
tion. As he never spoke to them except 
about matters of edification, he gave them 
a high idea of religion, and strove to im- 
press upon them that the world was only 
a phantom in comparison with the service 
of God and the glory of promoting the sal- 
vation of souls. He often repeated the 
maxim that humble and fervent prayer is 
the best means of making sermons effec- 
tual, and that words without works cannot 
change or even reach the heart. He often 
foretold the effect of missions in which he 
and his brethren were about to engage, and 
he never failed to assign to each one that 
part in the holy ministry to which he was 
specially adapted. In this way some of the 
fathers would bring little children together 
to teach them the rudiments of Christian 
doctrine and the best method of saying their 



78 ILL us TRIO US DOMINICANS. 

prayers. Others were charged with the duty 
of giving familiar sermons to adults whose 
religious instruction had been neglected. 
He always placed himself in the audience 
to hear the young preachers, and he invaria- 
bly encouraged beginners, so as to excite 
them to greater labor and progress. He 
was compared to the eagle, which flutters 
about the eaglets to teach them how to fly. 
In referring sometimes to the passages in 
the sermon that appeared to have moved 
the audience, he was careful to warn his 
disciples not to notice applause, but rather 
the silence, the tears, and the actions which 
resulted from the discourse. '' If, after your 
sermon,'' he would say, "you see deadly 
enemies embrace each other ; if ill-gotten 
goods are restored ; if the occasions of sin 
are avoided ; if scandals cease ; if each one, 
in his special calling, endeavor to correct the 
irregularities of his conduct, then you may 
well say that the good seed has fallen upon 
good ground. But never fail to give the 
glory to God, without Whom you can do 



ST. LOUIS BERTRAND. 79 

nothing.'* Such were the maxims of this 
apostolic man ; and these he took no less care 
to practise himself than to impress upon 
those whom he desired to form in the holy 
ministry. 

We have seen the constancy of our Saint 
in trials and persecutions of the most awful 
character when he was preaching the faith 
to the Indians. Now that he is universally 
honored arid applauded on account of his 
miracles, prophecies, and numberless conver- 
sions, we are given occasion to admire his 
humility. Never was he so little in his own 
eyes, so sincerely humiliated before God, as 
when every one was calling him a saint, an 
apostle, another Vincent Ferrer. Never did 
the fear of the judgments of God which had 
marked his whole life so strongly impress 
him as when he was obliged to hear his own 
praises mentioned in public. If anything 
could have given him a distaste for the holy 
ministry of preaching, it would have been 
the approbation of men carried, as he 
thought, to excess. But he was too wise 



8o ILL US TRIO US DOMINICANS. 

and too enlightened to neglect or avoid a 
great good through fear of an evil which 
he detested. He did not believe it neces- 
sary for the preservation of humility to be- 
come useless. To his last hour he labored 
to destroy the reign of sin ; yet he always 
looked upon himself as a sinner worthy only 
of contempt. 

In these sentiments of humility and pen- 
ance he accepted and bore with fortitude 
interior trials as well as bodily pain which 
made his life one long martyrdom. The 
sole thought of the judgments of God, and 
the fear of being eternally separated from 
Him Who is infinitely perfect and Whom 
he loved above all things, filled him with 
terror. This salutary fear took away from 
him all pleasure in anything that would flat- 
ter the senses or content nature. His se- 
verity with himself and his wonderful austeri- 
ties would appear incredible, if we did not 
know the power of love in all true disciples 
of a crucified God. 



RTJr' 



CHAPTER VIL 

HIS LAST SICKNESS AND DEATH — HONORS PAID TO 
HIS REMAINS — HIS CANONIZATION. 

The tribulations which purify the just, as 
fire purifies gold in the crucible, became 
more continual and more severe during the 
last two years of our Saint's life. But in- 
crease of pain only served to display to 
greater advantage the heroic sentiments and 
noble firmness of his great soul. In all his 
trials his constant exclamation was the 
prayer of St. Augustine : '* Here, O Lord ! 
burn, here cut, here spare me not, that Thou 
mayest spare me in eternity.'' Not only did 
he persevere in his exercises of prayer and 
penance, but he did not wish to abstain 
from preaching. The people of Xativa had 
earnestly sought his presence amongst them 
to preach the Lent of 1580. Although re- 
duced to extreme weakness and subject be- 

8x 



■w 



82 



ILLUSTRIOUS DOMINICANS. 



sides to frequent fevers and internal pains, 
he would not deprive them of what they so 
ardently desired. 

Some time later he preached in the ca- 
thedral of Valencia ; and we may truly say 
that he came down from the pulpit only to 
be carried to his deathbed. 

The dangerous sickness into which he had 
fallen filled all Valencia with consternation. 
The Saint, on the contrary, rejoiced at the 
prospect and hope of being soon united to 
God, the only object of his loving desires. 
Nevertheless, though sick himself, he con- 
tinued to be instrumental in restoring health 
to others ; but some he warned of their ap- 
proaching end, and advised them to prepare to 
meet their eternal Judge. A certain gentle- 
man, on hearing of the Saint's sickness, came 
quickly to Valencia to crave his blessing 
and the favor of his prayers in behalf of one 
of his daughters, whose life was despaired of 
and whose death would greatly embarrass the 
affairs of his family. Cheerfully St. Louis 
spoke to him words that were prophetic: 



ST. LOUIS BERTRAND. 83 

'' Your daughter will not die of this sick- 
ness ; but you must admonish her to confess 
and receive the Holy Communion as an act 
of thanksgiving to God." 

St. Louis Bertrand foresaw the day of de- 
liverance from his earthly bondage. Nearly 
a year before the event he mentioned in con- 
fidence to some of his friends that he would 
die on the feast of St. Dennis, October the 
ninth, 1581. Among his most cherished 
friends were the Archbishop of Valencia and 
the prior of the chartreuse of Porta Coeli. 
This good man, Father Laurence de Zamora 
by name, hearing the prediction of our Saint, 
desired to verify it, and to that end commit- 
ted the following words to writing : " A 
revelation: The friar Louis Bertrand dies 
on the feast of St. Dennis, 1581."* He 
sealed the paper upon which these words 
were written, and had it carefully placed in 
the archives of his monastery, with strict 
orders that it should not be opened until the 

* Revelatio : Anno 1581, in festo Sancti Dionysii, moritur 
Frater Ludovicus Bertrandus. 



Zi 



84 ILL USTRIO US DOMINICANS, 

feast of All Saints. However much he ad- 
mired the sanctity of St. Louis and felt in- 
clined to believe in his predictions, he still 
hoped that in this case they would not be 
fulfilled. He was confirmed in this hope 
when he noticed a favorable turn in the 
Saint's illness and that his fever seemed to 
cease about the month of May. The physi- 
cians having given orders that he should be 
moved into the country for the sake of a 
change of air, the Duke of Najarra and 
other noblemen contended with one another 
for the honor of entertaining him at their 
houses. The claim of the archbishop, Don 
John de Ribera, was preferred to all others, 
as was proper ; and that distinguished prelate 
personally attended to the Saint with the 
most fraternal kindness for several months. 
He was most watchful to have the medicines 
and broths prescribed for the sick man ad- 
ministered at the appointed hours. He also 
had Mass celebrated at a convenient time, 
and Communion very frequently given to 
the Saint. Full of hope for his recovery, 



ST. LOUIS BERTRAND, 



85 



the archbishop often pleasantly said to St. 
Louis that he would falsify the prophecy. 
But the invariable answer was : " Remem- 
ber, my lord, the day that is marked down ; 
I shall not live longer. I thank God for 
His mercy and desire only to do His will." 

But all the tender care of the good prelate 
was unavailing, and the Saint's earnest re- 
quest to be brought back to his convent 
could no longer be refused. The arch- 
bishop, along with the Bishop of Majorca, 
the son of the Duke of Gandia, and many 
other distinguished persons, accompanied 
him on his return and afterwards visited 
him often in his convent home. The arch- 
bishop insisted on watching with him dur- 
ing the night-time, and was always present 
when he received the holy sacraments. 
He carefully treasured up the Saint's words, 
and when he saw the end approaching he 
read the Gospel over him and asked in turn 
the blessing of St. Louis. Whilst the pious 
archbishop, surrounded by many of his cler- 
gy and all the religious of Valencia, was re- 



86 



ILLUSTRIOUS DOMINICANS. 



citing the prayers lor those in their agony, 
St. Louis Bertrand resigned his holy soul 
into the hands of God, his Creator, at ten 
o'clock in the morning of October the 
ninth, 1581. He was then fifty-five years 
and nine months old ; and of these years 
he had spent thirty-seven in the order of St. 
Dominic and fifty in the penitential prac- 
tices, which had commenced almost in his 
infancy. 

The prior of the chartreuse of Porta Cceli 
did not wait for the feast of All Saints to 
open the paper of which we have spoken ; 
he had it opened and read in presence of his 
whole community assembled for the pur- 
pose. With one voice they expressed ad- 
miration and a holy joy at the exactitude 
with which the prophecy was fulfilled, and 
gave thanks to God for this new proof of 
the sanctity of His servant. Heaven itself 
made him more illustrious by repeated mi- 
racles, by the unanimous voice of the faith- 
ful, and by the testimony of the most holy 
persons then living in Spain. We cannot 



w^'- 



ST, LOUIS BERTRAND. , 87 

recount in this brief sketch the number and 
variety of the miracles that are mentioned 
in the Bull of Canonization, and which were 
performed in Valencia in favor of those 
who, in their necessities, invoked the Saint's 
intercession. Miraculous cures were so fre- 
quent at his tomb that, to content the de- 
votion of the people, the archbishop, one 
month after the death of the Saint, took the 
necessary steps to have him publicly vene- 
rated, with the consent of the Holy See. 
He appointed the Bishop of Majorca, Don 
Michael Spinoza, who began to take testi- 
mony in relation to this subject on the four- 
teenth of December, 1581. A deputation 
was also despatched to Pope Gregory XHL, 
praying His Holiness to make a formal in- 
vestigation of the life and miracles of Father 
Louis Bertrand, with a view to his canoni- 
zation. On the death of this pope. King 
Philip n. earnestly brought the subject to 
the notice of Pope Sixtus V., and apostolic 
commissioners were appointed to collect in- 
formation in Spain and the Indies. 



8 8 ILL us TRIO US DOMINICANS. 

Many unfavorable events and the deaths 
of several popes retarded his canonization for 
some years, when the Order of St. Dominic, 
with renewed zeal, laid the matter before 
Pope Clement VIII. King Philip III., 
who attributed his recovery from a severe 
illness to the intercession of St. Louis, wrote 
to his minister in Rome to use all diligence 
in bringing the proceedings in relation to 
the Saint's canonization to a speedy conclu- 
sion. Clement VIII. had already canon- 
ized St. Hyacinth and St. Raymond, of the 
same order, and had declared St. Agnes 
of Montepulciano Blessed — thus showing 
his great esteem for the Dominican Order, 
to the calendar of which he now desired to 
add the name of St. Louis Bertrand. But, 
death intervening, it was left to his succes- 
sors to complete the process. Pope Paul 
V, placed our Saint in the rank of the bless- 
ed servants of God by a decree of July twen- 
ty-ninth, 1608. At length, at the instance of 
Father Thomas Rocaberti, formerly general 
of the Order of Preachers and then Arch- 



ST. LOUIS BERTRAND. 89 

bishop of Valencia, Pope Clement X., with 
much splendor and with all the solemnity- 
usual on such occasions, performed the cere- 
mony of canonization on the twelfth of 
April, 1 67 1, nearly ninety years after the 
Saint's death. 

All the states of his Catholic majesty the 
King of Spain celebrated the festival with 
extraordinary magnificence. The Province 
of New Granada especially distinguished it- 
self.*^ The people of this province request- 
ed that St. Louis should be given to them 
as their special patron, believing that he 
who had drawn them to the true faith, and 
had so zealously instructed them in the law 
of the Gospel during his life, would still 
be their protector after his death. King 
Charles IT. of Spain sent their request to 
Pope Alexander VIII., who, by a decree of 
the third of September, 1690, declared St. 

* New Granada is now an independent state, and one of 
the most law-abiding and prosperous of the South American 
republics. The population is 2,500,000, of whom about 700,- 
000 are civilized Indians. The capital is Santa Fede Bogota, 
with a population of 60,000. 



90 ILL US TRIO US DOMINICANS, 

Louis Bertrand the patron and principal pro- 
tector of New Granada. His Holiness re- 
quired that his feast should be one of pre- 
cept in that country and celebrated on the 
tenth of October, as the feast of St. Dennis 
falls on the ninth of that month. 

The good odor of Christian charity which 
the labors and miracles of this blessed 
apostle have so widely diffused in the Old 
and the New World is in America espe- 
cially cherished and held in benediction. 
May it please the Divine Providence to raise 
up in this our day in His holy Church, and 
particularly in the order to which St. Louis 
Bertrand belonged,^ faithful imitators of 
his life and virtues — men filled with the 
same spirit of zeal and penance ; apostles 
possessed of the same ardent love of God 
and of their neighbor; of the same invin- 

* Pope Clement X., in a decree issued in 1671, has the fol- 
lowing remarkable declaration: **The order of St. Dominic 
appears to have received, as an inheritance from Heaven, the 
glorious mission of bringing the great American nation to the 
knowledge of the true God and to the fold of the Catholic 
Church." 



ST.LO UIS BER TRAND. 9 1 

cible courage and persevering patience; of 
the same wonderful iiumility, which rendered 
him equally successful among Christians and 
the heathen; of all those virtues, in fine, 
which raised him to the highest degree of 
perfection, and finally crowned him with 
the honor of mankind and the glory of 
Heaven! 



Julian Garces, 

OF THE ORDER OF PREACHERS, FIRST BISHOP OF 
TLASCALA, NOW PUEBLA, MEXICO. 



[dm iarti$^ 



OF THE ORDER OF PREACHERS, FIRST BISHOP OF TEAS- 
CALA, NOW PUEBLA, MEXICO. 




LL students of American history 
are doubtless acquainted with the 
thrilling narrative of the expedi- 
tion of Cortez from Vera Cruz to Mexico 
as it is given in Prescott's well-known work, 
'* The Conquest of Mexico." His contest 
with the Tlascalans will be especially re* 
membered. They were republicans in their 
form of government and hereditary enemies 
of the Mexican monarchy. They offered 
more stubborn opposition to the progress of 
the Spaniards than had been encountered in 
any part of the country. But once con- 
quered and induced to enter into a treaty 
with the invaders, they were the most faith- 



95 



^?! 



96 ILL US TRIO US DOMINICANS, 

ful allies of the latter. It is well known 
that one motive of the Spaniards in all these 
expeditions, and a very weighty one, was the 
conversion of the natives to the Christian 
faith. True, it was no easy matter to make 
the Indians believe in the religion of those 
whose lives often contradicted all the teach- 
ings of their creed. But another class of 
men accompanied or followed them, who 
united the strictest observance of evangeli- 
cal morality with the most earnest zeal in 
making converts to our holy faith. Many 
of them have been eulogized in the warmest 
terms by all historians of every shade of re- 
ligious opinion. The Dominicans, Father 
Olmedo, who was the companion of Cortez 
in his great expedition, and Las Casas, along 
with several Franciscans, have received un- 
qualified praise from Mr. Prescott. This is 
especially noteworthy from the fact that he 
clearly shows himself no friend of the Catho- 
lic religion. One of the greatest yet least 
known of these heroic apostles of the New 
World was Julian Garces, at first Bishop of 



JULIAN GARCES, 97 

Santa Maria de los Remedies de Yucatan, 
and afterwards first Bishop of Tlascala in 
Mexico. He was the first bishop on the 
American continent. There were bishops in 
the West Indies before his appointment, but 
none before him on the continent."^ 

Descended from an illustrious family of 
Aragon, he was born in the year 1457, 
and embraced the religious institute of 
St. Dominic in 1475. The success of his 
early studies did honor to his intellect as 
well as to his industry ; and his progress in 
the schools of Paris was so rapid that on his 
return to Spain he aroused the emulation of 
the best scholars of his native land. The 
ablest amongst them confessed that in lite- 

* For interesting and reliable information on the subject 
of the early bishoprics in America, and on the position of the 
Dominican missionaries, we refer the reader to two articles in 
the American Catholic Quarterly Review for January, 1879, ^.nd 
April, 1883, entitled respectively "The Catholic Church in 
the United States in the Recent Translation of Alzog," and 
** The American Hierarchy in its Threefold Source ; Three 
Representative Bishops." These articles are from the pen of 
Dr. John Gilmary Shea, a ripe scholar, who is deeply versed 
in the history of the Catholic Church in America. 



9^ ILLUSTRIOUS DOMINICANS. 

raiy disputes he was indeed a dangerous 
rival. This is the testimony of Elias An- 
tonio, of Lebrissa, himself celebrated in the 
universities of Spain. 

Garces did not bury his talents in the 
ground. An excellent rhetorician, a subtle 
philosopher, a renowned theologian, after 
having taught with great applause in many 
cities of Aragon he preached the word of 
God with good effect in several provinces of 
Spain and at the court of Castile. Charles 
V. and the royal family equally admired his 
burning eloquence, often marked by ten- 
derest pathos, and the apostolic liberty with 
which he lashed prevailing vices. His pru- 
dence and his purity of manners and mind 
opened to him the favor of many great per- 
sonages. Among them we find Fonseca, 
Archbishop of Burgos, who preceded the 
Dominican Cardinal Loaysa as president of 
the Council of the Indies. 

When it became known that the heroism 
of» Hernando Cortez and the devotedness of 
the priests who accompanied him had secured 



JULIAN GARCES, 99 

the success of Spain and the Christian religion 
in Mexico, Charles V. interested himself 
deeply in providing bishops for that country. 
The Tlascalans in particular were reported 
as well disposed toward the Spanish crown 
and easily drawn into the fold of Christianity. 
Hence it was resolved to estabHsh imme- 
diately among them an episcopal see, so as 
to give solid support to the work already so 
well begun. In the month of September, 
15 19, the very year of the conquest, his 
majesty presented to Pope Leo X. Father 
Julian Garces as a fit candidate for the 
new see. Owing to causes not explained, 
Bishop Garces was appointed to Santa 
Maria de los Remedios de Yucatan. 

For seven years he labored in this field, 
but in 1526 he was transferred to Tlascala, 
now Puebla, in Mexico, and took possession 
of his new see, by an administrator, Novem- 
ber the ninth, 1527. 

He sent a number of zealous priests be- 
fore him, and prepared to follow them as 
soon as possible. 



1 00 ILL US TRIO US DOMINICANS. 

The cause of his delay was to secure the 
protection of his majesty for the natives of 
the country, and to get time to learn their 
language, so that he might be understood by 
them and that his ministry might thereby 
be rendered more effective. Among his 
priests we find James de Loaysa, of his 
own order, who rendered important services 
among the natives, whose docility and appa- 
rent desire to be instructed in the truths of 
Christianity made all labors and trials light 
and easy in a field so inviting. These peo- 
ple, until then wrapped in the dark mantle 
of gross paganism, had adored idols or 
demons ; yet they received the bishop with 
all manner of rejoicing, and their consola- 
tion was all the greater when they experi- 
enced his influence among them as a father 
and protector, both able and willing to de- 
fend them against the cruelty and avarice of 
their oppressors. 

The tender charity of our prelate impelled 
him to make himself all to all to gain all, 
never counting as anything fatigue or labor, 



JULIAN GARCES. I O I 

and bearing good-humoredly Indian man- 
ners so completely at variance with Euro- 
pean customs. With the greatest kindness 
he taught them the catechism ; and by 
his familiar instructions he gave them a 
good knowledge of the principles of our 
holy faith, the requirements of Christian 
morals, and the maxims of the Gospel. His 
discourses were all the more efficacious 
when it was observed that he practised what 
he taught. His patience, humility, con- 
tempt of riches, horror of vice, zeal for re- 
ligion, and desire of salvation were conspi- 
cuous in the eyes of his hearers, and moved 
them to inquire into his doctrine and to 
accept it. In truth, he was the object of 
their love, respect, and confidence. His 
constancy and invincible firmness in defend- 
ing the natives from the vexatious oppres- 
sion of their conquerors greatly contributed 
to this result and rendered his instructions 
doubly successful. 

Although the Tlascalans had shown great 
fidelity and friendship to the Spaniards, 



I02 ILLUSTRIOUS DOMINICANS, 

and had aided them in the conquest of 
Mexico, they had Httle reason to perse- 
vere in these friendly dispositions. Their 
goods were often unceremoniously appropri- 
ated by their guests, and that, too, against 
the express will and written decree of 
the emperor. This was not all ; for, hav- 
ing deprived them of their temporal pos- 
sessions, they seemed inclined to rob them 
of eternal blessings also. In plain words, 
they maintained that these Indians, like 
all others, were unworthy of any associa- 
tion with the Spaniards and unfit to be re- 
ceived into the Christian communion. It 
was argued that slavery was their pro- 
per condition of life, and that they could 
at least be sold as prisoners taken in just 
war. 

The contrary doctrine had been triumph- 
antly maintained before Cardinal Ximenes 
and Charles V, by the great Las Casas, who 
was, indeed, the central figure in this grand 
struggle against barefaced oppression ; and 
Bishop Garces was a faithful disciple of 



m^' 



JULIAN GARCES. I03 

these generous sentiments and a tower of 
strength on the side of the poor natives. 
He regarded the sentiments of many of his 
own countrymen as equally contrary to hu- 
manity and injurious to religion. His no- 
ble charity was ever on the alert ; and to 
prevent their impious views from obtaining 
practical effect he was resolved to risk all, 
even life itself. Nor was his charity of 
the puny or sentimental order ; he carried 
his complaints even to the Royal Council 
of the Indies in Spain, and composed a 
work in favor of the oppressed natives, 
which he addressed to Pope Paul HI. In 
the meantime, before his remonstrances 
could have the desired effect, he attacked 
the conduct of the Spaniards in their treat- 
ment of the natives, in the face of threats, 
violence, and false representations sent 
against him to Spain. 

His career was indeed every way worthy 
of a successor of the Apostles; for he 
taught both Europeans and Indians that 
the law of Jesus Christ would subdue hu- 



1 04 ILL USTRIO US DOMINICANS, 

man passions and that His holy grace made 
all men equal as followers of a common 
Master. Our prelate, although possessing 
all the virtues and good qualities of a true 
bishop, was scantily furnished with other 
equipments of this important calling. In 
order to be able to give as much as possible 
to the needy and the orphan, he regulat- 
ed his household affairs on the principle of 
strict economy. The persons composing his 
episcopal train were few in number and en- 
tirely of his own mind. Father James de 
Loaysa was the inseparable companion of 
his journeys and labors ; a chaplain and two 
domestics made up the rest of his house- 
hold. Thus, so far from being a burden or 
expense to his people, he procured them, 
on the contrary, every succor in time of 
need ; and, content with the bare necessaries 
of life, he ever found in his revenues, al- 
though inconsiderable from the first, means 
of helping his people, and especially such as 
had been ruined by the greed of the con- 
querors. 



JULIAN GARCES. I05 

Divine Providence prolonged the life of 
a man so useful to the Church and so indis- 
pensable for the consolation of the new 
Christians. He was more than seventy- 
years of age when he sailed to America, and 
forty of these years he had labored without 
rest in the kingdoms of Aragon and Cas- 
tile. But the good God gave him twenty 
years more to labor in the New World, and 
make the name and faith of Jesus Christ 
known and loved by a people whose origin 
is hardly known to this day, and whose 
existence had only then been discovered. 
To this glorious work our grand old 
bishop continued to devote himself till the 
shadows of the grave began to lower and 
the decrepitude of extreme age began to 
make itself felt. His holy life came to a 
close in 1547, in his ninetieth year. His 
body was laid in the Cathedral Church, 
the foundation of which he had laid, and 
the completion of which he had lived to 
see. He had also established a convent 
of his order in his episcopal city, which 



1 06 ILL US TRIO US DOMINICANS, 

was sometimes written Tesecalan as well as 
Tlascala.^ 

His last words to his Dominican brethren 
were ''never to relinquish the work of con- 
verting the poor Indians, and never to with- 
hold their protection from them should they 
be persecuted by the invaders of their coun- 
try/' The only legacy he left was the 
'' Works of St. Augustine," with commen- 
taries of his own. 

Nicholas Antonio, in his *' Library of 
Spain," gives credit to our prelate for no 
work except that already mentioned in favor 
of the Indians, which was composed in 
Latin and presented to the Sovereign Pon- 
tiff, Paul III., in 1536. It is quite certain 
that the decree issued in this year by that 
pope, declaring the Indians to be rational 
beings and fit to receive Christian teaching, 
was the result of this treatise, and of the re- 
ports of other holy missionaries. 

* The city of Tlascala and its cathedral still exist. It had 
a population of 5,000 in 1870. The people are reported as in- 
telligent and law-abiding, and mostly of Indian descent. 



Wf^ 



JULIAN GARCES. IO7 

And now, after the lapse of three centuries 
and a half, the question will be raised, What 
has become of the work of these holy men ? 
The answer is easy. It still remains. The 
Indians were Christianized, civilized, saved ; 
and their descendants even now cherish the 
memory of their apostles and protectors, but 
for whom the whole race would have disap- 
peared from Mexico and South America, 
the same as it has almost disappeared from 
the face of our northern continent. Out of 
a population of ten millions in Mexico 
more than one-half are totally or partially 
of Indian origin. The same is true of all 
South America. The Catholic priests, no- 
tably the Dominicans and Franciscans, saved 
them. Honor to whom honor is due. 



Jerome de Loaysa, 

OF THE ORDER OF PREACHERS, FIRST BISHOP AND 
ARCHBISHOP OF LIMA, PERU. 




ltttxm$ h$ yitxmi^^ 



OF THE ORDER OF PREACHERS, FIRST BISHOP AND ARCH- 
BISHOP OF LIMA, PERU. 



CHAPTER I. 




HIS EARLY LIFE — HE IS APPOINTED BISHOP OF CAR- 
THAGENA. 

I HE life now presented to the En- 
glish-speaking public displays in a 
peculiar manner the enlightened 
zeal and love of learning which characterized 
the principal missionaries of the Catholic 
Church in South America. Here we have a 
man who, though devoted heart and soul to 
the propagation of the Catholic faith among 
the natives of America, shows no less earnest- 
ness in furnishing them with all the appli- 
ances of the best systems of education known 
to Europe. Even if this good man, and 



112 ILLUSTRIOUS [DOMINICANS. 

Others like him, were mistaken in their esti- 
mate of the capacity of the Indian to receive 
the scholastic training of the European, we 
must still admire the honest zeal which im- 
pelled him in 1549 to establish at Lima, Peru, 
a university endowed with all the privileges 
of Salamanca, in Spain. 

Jerome de Loaysa, born about the close 
of the fifteenth century at Truxillo, in Estre- 
madura, was the son of Don Alvarez de 
Carvajal and his wife, Joanna Gonzalez de 
Paradez. He received the habit of St. 
Dominic in the convent of Cordova in the 
year 15 15. He was distinguished not only 
for his virtues as a novice and as a priest, but 
also for his literary acquirements, and, as 
years went on, for prudence and ability in 
the direction of souls. His apostoHc labors 
finally consecrated his name in the early his- 
tory of many churches of the New World. 

We shall not dwell upon the applause he 
won as a student in the College of St. Gre- 
gory at Valladolid, or as a professor of phi- 
losophy and theology in the schools of Cor- 



JEROME DE LOA YSA. 113 

dova and Granada. His humility during 
these years was remarkable, but it was even 
more conspicuous in his government of cer- 
tain houses of his order, and in the absolute 
horror with which he was seized when he 
heard that he was nominated to the epis- 
cocopal dignity. He had just been honored 
with the doctor's cap, and was prior of the 
convent of Carboneras, in 1537, when the 
Emperor Charles V. informed him by letter 
that he had named him Bishop of Cartha- 
gena, in South America ; and that he would 
not listen to any excuses, no matter how well 
founded they might seem to be. He there- 
fore informed the superior of the Province 
of Spain that Jerome de Loaysa should ac- 
cept the charge without delay, in accordance 
with his own earnest wish and that of the 
Pope. Hence the consent of the good fa- 
ther became a necessity. 

Having, therefore, made to God the sac- 
rifice of his repose and his life, the first care 
of our prelate after his consecration, which 
took place in 1537, and previous to his de- 



1 1 4 ILL USTRIO US DOMINICANS, 

parture from Spain,^ was to select among 
the different religious orders, especially his 
own, worthy ministers of the Gospel to ac- 
company him in his arduous mission. He 
soon found himself surrounded by a num- 
ber of excellent priests, whom he employed 
to the best advantage in the conversion of 

* Though Father Touron makes no mention of a previous 
visit to America, Rev. M. A. Roze, O.P., in his work entitled 
** Les Dominicains in Am^rique," tells us that as early as 1526 
Father Loaysa, with other Dominicans, sailed from Cadiz for 
the Western missions. For five years he labored among the 
natives, when the cruelties of the Spaniards had so aroused 
his indignation and sympathy that, animated by the spirit 
which his brother-Dominicans had always displayed, he em- 
barked for Spain to plead before Charles V. the cause of the 
oppressed Indians, His coming as bishop was, therefore, but 
a return to the scene of his former labors, though with greater 
powers and greater responsibilities. The emperor, more ef- 
fectually to testify his interest in the success of Bishop Lo- 
aysa, generously promised to grant him anything he thought 
necessary or proper to ask for his new charge. In reply he 
promptly drew up th*e following requests : 

1. That it would please his majesty to protect the Indians 
with energy and effect against their oppressors. "• 

2. To provide means for the erection of a cathedral. 

3. To erect a convent for the Dominican missionaries, 
and to obtain from their order six members each year for his^ 
diocese. 

These requests were readily granted. 



JEROME DE LOA YSA, 1 1 5 

the natives, in regulating the morals of the 
Spaniards who were scattered over the con- 
quered provinces, and in forming the new 
society upon the doctrines and maxims of 
the Gospel. As soon as he had distributed 
these missionaries through Terra Firma, and 
defined the location of each so that all the 
people living within the limits of his diocese 
might have spiritual assistance, he devoted 
himself entirely to the functions of his sa- 
cred ministry. While thus occupied with 
the spiritual good of his flock he did not 
neglect the progress of his cathedral, which 
was dedicated in the month of January, 
1538, under the name and patronage of St. 
Catherine the Martyr of Alexandria. 

About the same time he assembled all the 
priests of his diocese as a consultive body, 
and drew up, with their concurrence, many 
regulations admirably adapted to the promo- 
tion of such points of discipline as the cir- 
cumstances of the country required. One 
of the regulations was the absolute prohi- 
bition to all ecclesiastics against carrying 



I 1 6 ILL US TRIO US DOMINICANS. 

arms, or assuming the least sign of a mili- 
tary dress, or concealing in any way their 
own profession. As an evidence of the en- 
lightened zeal of our Bishop, he proposed 
the establishment of a college at Carthagena 
such as was afterwards founded in Rome 
under the title of the Propaganda. In this 
college religious appointed by the Bishop 
were to teach the principles of our holy 
faith, the Latin language, philosophy, the- 
ology, and the laws and best usages of 
Spain to the children of the Indian chief- 
tains and principal men. Thus he hoped to 
form good scholars and good subjects by 
spreading knowledge and loyalty through 
the whole country, which would thereby be 
better prepared to receive and practise the 
Christian religion. 

The Bishop set about the execution of 
this work with his wonted energy, and there 
was every reason to believe that a few years 
would crown his exertions with success had 
he not been transferred to a more important 
post. Seeking only the glory of God and 



JEROME BE LOA YSA. 1 1 7 

the salvation of souls through the preach- 
ing of the holy Gospel, he soon completely 
gained the confidence of the Indians. His 
kindness, his disinterestedness, his ever-ac- 
tive charity won for him, in a short time, the 
love and reverence of a people who clearly 
perceived that he preached to them nothing 
but what they saw him practise. His great- 
est difficulty was with those of his own na- 
tion, amongst whom the corrupt manners 
and unbridled avarice of many furnished 
constant material for the exercise of his 
patience. Often he was obliged to resist 
with firmness and courage the violence of 
certain officers who, in contempt of the 
royal ordinances to the contrary, continued 
to tyrannize over a people whose country 
and property they had invaded. 

Notwithstanding the scandal thus given, 
which it was hard to remove and which 
formed a serious obstacle to the propaga- 
tion of the faith, our zealous prelate suc- 
cessfully promoted the work of God and 
founded several religious institutions. The 



1 1 8 ILL US TRIO US DOMINICANS. 

conversion of large numbers of the heathen 
sweetened the severe labors of his ministry, 
and his joy would have been full if he had 
found in the old Christians the same reli- 
gious docility that he found in the new con- 
verts. Reprehensible as was the conduct of 
the former, he managed to govern all as well 
as circumstances permitted ; and when he 
could not prevent the evil itself he con- 
trived at least to prevent the scandalous 
effects resulting from it. His prudence and 
firmness were equally conspicuous. In the 
short period of five or six years the church 
of Carthagena, owing to the vigilance and 
zeal of its chief pastor, was well established, 
widely extended, and liberally endowed. A 
large number of Indian families who had 
abandoned their errors for the beautiful law 
of the Gospel made this city their home. 
The ministers of religion were constantly em- 
ployed in correcting perverse habits, in de- 
stroying superstitions and evil practices, and 
in preparing for baptism those who sought 
admission into the Church. In other re- 



JEROME DE LOA YSA, 1 1 9 

spects his diocese enjoyed peace, in so far 
as it was possible to preserve it at a time in 
which it was hard to set limits to the license 
of the conquerors. 



CHAPTER ir. 

HE IS APPOINTED FIRST BISHOP OF LIMA. 

The death of Vincent Valverde, Bishop 
of Cuzco, induced Charles V. to establish 
another episcopal see in Peru, and this was 
to be at the new city of Lima, called by the 
Spaniards the City of the Kings.* Pope 
Paul III. issued bulls for the erection of the 
new see in 1541, and satisfied all the wishes 
of the emperor by the translation of Bishop 
Loaysa from the See of Carthagena to that 

* Lima is beautifully situated on the River Rimac, just six 
miles from the Pacific Ocean, and only twelve degrees south of 
the equator. Its foundation was laid on the sixth of January, 
the Feast of the Epiphany, 1535, by Francisco Pizarro, the 
famous conqueror of Peru. The cathedral still exists. It is 
a grand and massive structure, 320 feet long by 180 wide. 
The body of the conqueror lies beneath the main altar. The 
church of the Dominicans, 300 feet long by 80 wide, has the 
highest steeple in Lima. It measures 180 feet. Lima was 
called the City of the Kings because its foundation was laid on 
the Feast of the Epiphany, which commemorates the adoration 
of the kings. The name Lima is said to be a corruption of the 
Indian Rimac, the river on which it is built. 

120 



51'*^' - ■ 



JEROME DE LOA YSA. I 2 1 

of Lima, Our prelate's intimate knowledge 
of the manners, customs, genius, and lan- 
guage of the Indians ; his wisdom, experience, 
love of justice and peace ; the success ac- 
corded to his labors through the goodness 
of Providence — all these considerations im- 
pressed both emperor and Pope with the 
conviction that he was the best-adapted per- 
son to spread the light of faith in this great 
kingdom, in the preservation of which the 
emperor was deeply interested. It was also 
justly supposed that he was more capable 
than any other ecclesiastic of securing obedi- 
ence to the royal ordinances in favor of the 
Indians. 

Following several other historians. Father 
Echard asserts that our prelate did not arrive 
at Lima until the twenty-second of August, 
1543, six years after he had been consecrated 
Bishop of Carthagena. Charged with break- 
ing and cultivating a new field, in the spiritual 
sense, the two races which constituted the ob- 
ject of his care furnished him with sufficient 
material upon which to exercise his zeal. The 



12 2 ILL USTRIO US DOMINICANS, 

natives, buried in the darkest idolatry and in 
complete ignorance of Christian teaching, 
still continued to offer incense to idols ; and 
their manners were as corrupt as their wor 
ship was impious. In the abundance of all 
things they sought only the gratification of 
every desire of the heart. They acknow- 
ledged no other happiness than that of the 
present life, and it is not surprising that they 
placed no restraint on their senses and brutal 
passions. Many of the Spaniards who had 
entered these rich provinces sword in hand 
were scarcely less debauched. It is not a 
calumny upon those fierce conquerors to say 
that most of them retained nothing of Chris- 
tianity but the name. 

It was necessary, therefore, to dispel the 
darkness of the former, to induce them to 
abandon the worship of the demon, and, 
having imparted to them the Christian faith, 
to regulate their morals by its teaching. It 
was also necessary to combat the vices of the 
Spaniards ; to convince them that insatiable 
avarice was indeed idolatry, and that it was 



mw*^' 



JEROME DE LOA YSA. 1 23 

in vain for them to proclaim their adherence 
to the faith when their lives were a constant 
contradiction of their profession. Thus both 
had equal need of instruction, but the ob- 
stinacy of the latter was harder to overcome. 
Thus our good prelate found by experience 
that it was easier to persuade the natives of 
the truth of our religion than to induce his 
own countrymen to live according to its 
spirit. Obliged to work for the good of both 
races, he made himself all to all to gain all 
to Christ. No labor repelled him, for he 
felt that what was beyond all human energy 
was still possible to the power of God's holy 
grace. He well knew that a minister of 
Jesus Christ could promise himself every 
success if he were always true to his voca- 
tion and knew how to call to the aid of his 
work the means used by the Apostles in the 
conversion of the world — prayer, patience, 
and preaching. These were the identical 
means he always employed, and his success 
was proportionably great. 

God prolonged his days that he might 



1 24 ILL USTRIO US DOMINICANS, 

prosecute this holy work more effectively. 
He gave him zealous and faithful assistants 
in the ministry, and by the silent operations 
of His Divine will removed many difficul- 
ties apparently insurmountable. The Holy 
See and the court of Castile, in order to 
mark in a special manner their confidence in 
our prelate, often anticipated his wishes so as 
to enable him to execute certain works that 
he considered necessary. In the space of a 
few years he formed an excellent body of 
priests, both secular and regular ; laid the 
foundations of the grand cathedral, which 
still exists ; established many parishes ; found- 
ed convents, monasteries, colleges, and hospi- 
tals, both for the Indians and for the Span- 
iards, for men and for women. 



f^.. 



CHAPTER III. 

HE RECEIVES THE PALLIUM AS FIRST ARCHBISHOP OF 
LIMA — ESTABLISHMENT OF THE UNIVERSITY. 

In 1548 Pope Paul III. erected Lima 
into a metropolitan see and sent the pal- 
Hum to Bishop Loaysa, who thus became 
its first archbishop, as he had been its first 
bishop. To give greater lustre to the City 
of the Kings, and to provide more effectu- 
ally for the advancement of the new Chris- 
tians, our Archbishop established a univer- 
sity, upon which the Pope and the Catholic 
king conferred the same privileges, with one 
slight exception, as were enjoyed by Sala- 
manca. From the words of Father Touron, 
it would appear that the University of Lima 
takes its date actually from the year 1548. 
Another account gives the year of its founda- 
tion as 1 571. It is likely that the latter date 

simply marks the occupation of the build- 

125 



126 ' ILL USTRIO US DOMINICANS, 

ings intended for the institution, and that 
the whole system of studies had been inau- 
gurated at the former date, 1548. Father 
Roze, however, gives a more minute ac- 
count of this work of the Archbishop, and, 
though his dates vary sHghtly from the first 
mentioned, we think it well to give a con- 
siderable extract from '* Les Dominicains in 
Amerique " : 

*' We have found," he says, '* in other 
writings, that his principal instrument in 
the execution of this work was the Domini- 
can Thomas de St. Martin, first Provincial 
of the Province of St. John the Baptist in 
Peru. It is a matter of so great import- 
ance that we deem it proper to relate in 
this place a few of the principal facts of 
the case. In 1550 the Provincial Father 
was summoned to attend a general chap- 
ter of his order to be held in Salamanca 
on the seventeenth of May, 1551. The citi- 
zens of Lima took occasion to confide to 
him several petitions to Charles V. Among 
them was the following: 'The citizens of 



p)-' 



JEROME DE LOA YSA. 12 J 

Lima, considering the extreme inconve- 
nience and great expense of sending their 
sons to Madrid to be educated, humbly ask 
his Catholic Majesty to permit a college of 
general studies to be established in the con- 
vent of the Dominican Fathers in Lima, and 
to confer upon said college the same privi- 
leges, exemptions, and immunities as are en- 
joyed by the royal college of Salamanca in 
Spain/ 

*' Father Thomas executed his commission 
with such zeal and promptitude that before 
the chapter of his order was held he had al- 
ready received a favorable answer from the 
government. Here is a literal translation of 
the original letter of the Queen of Spain, 
who, in the absence of her husband, acted as 
regent of the kingdom : 

"*We have learned through Father Tho- 
mas of St. Martin, Provincial of the Order 
of Preachers in our province of Peru, that 
in the city of Lima there is a convent of 
his order well adapted to the purposes of 
a general college, in which the children of 






128 ILL USTRIO US DOMINICANS, 

that country may be fully instructed in the 
arts and sciences ; and that we are petition- 
ed to establish in said convent such general 
college, with all the privileges, exemptions, 
and immunities enjoyed by the royal Uni- 
versity of Salamanca ; 

'' ' We, therefore, will and ordain that in 
the convent named, or in some other suit- 
able place, if the city deem it proper, a uni- 
versity enjoying all the privileges, exemp- 
tions, and immunities already mentioned be 
established as soon as possible ; with this 
exception, however, that the University of 
Lima shall not have the liberty of exempt- 
ing its graduates from the customary tax, as 
is the practice at Salamanca. 

'' ' And we order the president and mem- 
bers of the royal council at Lima to obey 
the intentions expressed in this letter, and 
put them into execution with as little delay 
as possible. 

'' 'Given at Valladolid, May 12, 1551. 
'' 'Juan de Samana, 
'' * For Her Majesty the Queen/ 



JEROME DE LOA YSA. I 29 

" This university was opened in the con- 
vent of the Dominicans in 1553, and was 
carried on with great success in that place 
until it was transferred to the buildings 
which it still occupies under the name of 
St. Mark, in 1577, twenty-four years after it 
was opened." ^ 

The immense value and practical utility of 
the foundations mentioned may be easily con- 
ceived. Their direct tendency was to civilize 
the natives and to multiply or confirm the 
numerous conversions constantly effected 
by the devoted zeal of apostolic mission- 
aries. The aborigines, profiting by so many 

* From these authorities, therefore, we can judge that the 
University of Lima has precedence by almost a century over 
that of Harvard, near Boston, which was commenced on a 
small scale about 1640. This is a /iz^/ which we commend to 
the reflection of that class who are ever ready to talk so glibly 
of Romish intolerance of science and of the fierce bigotry with 
which the monks or friars have always opposed the world in 
its pursuit of learning. 

Let the reader compare this work of the Dominicans for 
the natives of South America with the operations carried on 
by the settlers of Massachusetts and other northern parts in 
their dealings with the Indians, and then let him draw his 
conclusions. 



1 30 ILL US TRIO US DOMINICANS. 

means of instruction provided for them, of 
their own accord threw down their idols, re- 
nounced their former superstition, and in 
large numbers submitted to the sweet yoke 
of the Gospel. In this age, while good men 
saw with sorrow the kingdom of God's holy 
grace proudly rejected and unity of faith 
torn by division, in one part of the world, 
they had the consolation of witnessing with 
what eagerness and joy these blessings were 
accepted in the newly-discovered countries. 
Two famous apostates from Catholic truth, 
Luther and Calvin, tore down the altars of 
the Christian religion in the old countries of 
Europe ; they abolished the holy sacrifice of 
the Mass ; they inaugurated frightful wars 
among the nations on account of religion ; 
but, at the same time, innumerable souls 
were gathered into the Church from among 
•the heathen nations by the devoted zeal and 
spirit of martyrdom displayed by Catholic 
priests. It is remarkable that the reformers 
confined their efforts and zeal for religion to 
their native countries, leaving to the priests 



JEROME DE LOA YSA. 1 3 ^ 

of the true Church the whole glory of con- 
verting the heathen. Thus the Church wept 
her losses in the old world and rejoiced with 
a new joy over her rich harvest of souls in 
the new. And the Order of St. Dominic, 
in particular, seems to have been destined by 
Providence to take a prominent part in this 
holy work. The name of Las Casas"^ alone 
is sufficient to give glory to the order of 
which he was a member ; and it is beyond 
question that his efforts to save the Indians 
from Spanish cruelty was the occasion, if not 
the cause, of so many members of his order 
having been entrusted with the government 
of the newly-established episcopal sees in 
Mexico and South America. It is well 
known that, even in his old age, he himself 
was appointed first Bishop of Chiapa, in 
Mexico. 

* See his life, published in 1870 by Mr. O'Shea, New York. 



■miKi 



CHAPTER IV. 

HIS LABORS FOR THE ADVANCEMENT OF RELIGION 
AND THE WELFARE OF THE NATIVES — HIS COURAGE 
AND PRUDENCE. 

Archbishop Loaysa was the soul of the 
great work going on in Peru, but he was 
not alone in it. He gathered about him not 
only a large number of devoted priests of his 
own order, but other priests, both secular and 
regular, who showed the inclination and fit- 
ness necessary for success in this mission. 
He loved all and honored them according to 
their merits. Like a father among his chil- 
dren, he supplied the wants of all, and placed 
each one in the position best suited to his 
particular ability. He was severe, indeed, 
towards unworthy priests, and when he found 
them incorrigible he did not fail, through his 
influence with the Pope and the emperor, 
to send them back to Spain. In these cir- 
cumstances, he feared neither the powerful 






JEROME DE LOA YSA. 1 33 

friends of such ecclesiastics nor the enemies 
he might raise up against himself in the 
court of Spain by honestly following the 
dictates of his conscience. When the in- 
terests of Christ and His Church were in 
question his own were ignored or forgotten. 
The Archbishop was unremitting in his ef- 
forts for the preservation of peace in Peru ; 
but the imprudence of certain governors and 
the turbulence or ambition of the first con- 
querors seriously impeded his efforts in this 
direction. Nevertheless, all acknowledged 
that his services were doubly useful to the 
Church and to the state, to the people and 
to the sovereign.* 

An instance is at hand. When Charles 
V. had been fully convinced of the grievous 
wrongs inflicted upon the natives of Peru 
by their Spanish conquerors, he resolved to 
tolerate the evil no longer. With this view 
he appointed as Viceroy Don Blaise Nunez 

* He is highly praised for his prudence, good sense, and 
courage by Prescott in his history of the " Conquest of Peru," 
Vol. II. 



r^ 



1 34 ILL USTRIO US DOMINICANS. 

Vela, a knight of Avila, a man of strict 
integrity but perhaps somewhat imprudent, 
to carry out to the letter the decrees in favor 
of the Indians. The military colonists of 
Peru became indignant ; and it was reported 
that Nunez himself had procured these se- 
vere ordinances against their peculiar plans in 
order to gratify private revenge by the ruin of 
some of them. Whether the suspicion was 
well founded or not, its evil effects were the 
same. Murmurs and complaints arose on 
all sides, and recourse was had to arms. This 
was in 1544. The inhabitants of Cuzco* 
openly opposed the execution of the ordi- 
nances. Gonzalez Pizarro, the only brother 
of the renowned Francisco now remaining 
in the province, was Procurator-General of 
Peru, and was deputed by his countrymen 
resident in and around Cuzco to wait upon 
the Viceroy and demand a revocation of the 
decrees. But he only increased the spirit of 
revolt; for he managed to put himself at 

* The ancient Indian capital of Peru. 



JEROME DE LOA VSA. 1 35 

the head of several hundred armed men of 
the disaffected party, and resolved to enter 
Lima by force. The Viceroy, somewhat 
alarmed, had recourse to our Archbishop, 
urging him in the name of peace to use his 
influence with the rebels, and so prevent the 
evil effects of a resort to "arms. The answer 
of Loaysa shows him to have been a man of 
wonderful prudence in the most trying cir- 
cumstances. He agreed to confer with 
Pizarro and his party if Nunez w^ould pro- 
mise to suspend the execution of the ob- 
noxious decrees until the home govern- 
ment could be consulted and an answer 
obtained.^ Nunez accepted the condition 
all the more willingly for the reason that the 
Archbishop pledged himself to justify his 
(Nunez's) conduct with the emperor. 

Having secured a conveyance at Lima, 
the Archbishop met a part of the army near 
the river Apurimac. The wisdom and sweet- 

* All the historians (including our own Prescott) who have 
written on these events agree in commending the wisdom of 
this plan. 



- ^ .^^1 



1 36 ILL USTRIO US DOMINICAN'S, 

ness of his words arrested for a time the de- 
signs of the principal officers. Some per- 
sons attached to the advancing army asked 
for his credentials before they would treat 
with him at all. The prelate nobly and 
promptly answered : " I am your chief pas- 
tor, your Archbishop. I am well known in 
this province ; I require no credentials. De- 
sist from further hostilities and I give you 
my plighted word that the new ordinances 
will not be executed until an answer is re- 
ceived from the emperor." The more mode- 
rate wished to stop at this point ; but others 
insisted on continuing their march to Lima 
so as to seize the Viceroy, or, at least, to 
force the royal audience to send him back to 
Spain. The Archbishop, seeing the danger 
which threatened the capital, hastened back 
to confirm the people in the allegiance they 
had promised to their sovereign, and to aid 
the Viceroy by his counsels. Events proved 
that the precaution was most opportune. 

But the precipitation of Nufiez threw 
everything into confusion. He proceeded 



W^f^^^ 



JEROME DE LOA YSA. 137 

along the coast and through the valley of 
Barancas. Having occupied a certain house 
one night, he saw on the walls the following 
words written in large characters : ''He who 
will attempt to drive me out of my house 
will himself be driven out of the world." 
He concluded that this was intended for 
himself, and that a Spaniard named An- 
tony Solar, a commissioner of the Depart- 
ment of Barancas, was the author of it. No 
longer able to conceal his anger, he hasten- 
ed back to Lima and called Solar to him, 
and reproved him with having used sedi- 
tious language to him and to the govern- 
ment. Without any formality he ordered 
Solar to be thrown into prison, and directed 
his own chaplain to prepare him for death. 
Solar, however, had not come alone ; he was 
attended by trusty followers, who at once as- 
sumed a defensive attitude. In the mean- 
time the rumor of this well-nigh fatal quar- 
rel spread through Lima, and our Arch- 
bishop, followed by a number of the best 
citizens, waited upon the Viceroy, represent- 



'"^ 



138 ILL USTRIO US DOMINICANS, 

ing the irregularity of the proceeding, the 
evil consequences to which it might lead, 
and the bad effect already produced in con- 
sequence of the disturbed state of affairs. 
Finally, a day's respite was given to the al- 
leged culprit, but he was not released from 
confinement. The royal audience, some of 
whom greatly disapproved of the whole con- 
duct of the Viceroy, finally succeeded in 
liberating Solar. 

We shall not follow the various phases of 
the civil wars in this unhappy country ; suf- 
fice it to say that Nunez lost his life near 
Quito, whither he had hastened at the head 
of a small army of loyalists, and Gonzalez 
Pizarro, his conqueror, was in turn over- 
come, arrested, and put to death in April, 
1548, by the next royal governor, the cele- 
brated pacificator of Peru, Pedro de la Gas- 
ca.^ This governor honored our Archbi- 

* Prescott, in his second volume of the ** Conquest of 
Peru," shows Gasca, who was a priest, to have been the ablest 
and best governor ever appointed for this province. It was 
with much skill that he secured peace and the downfall of Pi- 
zarro. And here we may remark that, of all the principal 



JEROME DE LOA YSA, 1 39 

shop in the most signal manner, and gave 
him the highest praise in his reports to the 
home government. 

Peace followed the downfall of the Pizar- 
ros, and the Archbishop found time to apply 
himself to the special government of his dio- 
cese in spiritual matters. On the fourth of 
October, 1552, he convoked a provincial 
council, with a view to improve and elevate 
the morals of his flock, which had suffered 
detriment during the civil wars ; and also to 
agree upon a uniform method of instruct- 
ing the Indians, so that their conversion 
might be intelligently assured before the ad- 
ministration of Baptism. The council ap- 
proved several short tracts prepared by the 
Archbishop, or by some of his brethren of 
the Dominican Order, as well adapted to the 
capacity of these people in helping them learn 

conquerors, not one escaped a violent death. President Gasca 
held the Archbishop in the highest esteem, and made him his 
principal counsellor. Before his departure for Europe Gasca 
appointed him and two Dominican Fathers, Thomas de St. Mar- 
tin and Dominic de St. Thomas, a commission to travel over 
the country and to fix a moderate tax for the Indians, lately 
enfranchised, as well as to regulate their wages. 



1 40 ILL US TRIO US DOMINICANS. 

the rudiments of Christian doctrine and the 
practices of our holy religion. The progress 
of religion was greatly favored by a compa- 
ratively long peace, interrupted only by a se- 
dition excited by one Fernandez Giron, but 
which, through the Archbishop's efforts, was 
quickly suppressed by the dispersion of the 
rebel troops and the execution of their lead- 
er."^ Our prelate turned this peace to good 
account in repairing the disorders caused by 
war. He visited his vast diocese, infused 
new vigor into the missions, multiplied pa- 
rishes and religious houses, and provided 
liberally for the endowment of hospitals. 
To confirm ecclesiastical discipline not only 
among the clergy of his cathedral chapter, 
but also among all his priests, he assembled 
a second provincial council in Lima on the 
second of March, 1567. 

♦At the critical moment when Giron raised the standard of 
revolt the Viceroy, Antonio de Mendoza, had just died. The 
need of a supreme authority was evident to all, and by the 
votes of the auditors of the royal council this dignity was 
conferred on Archbishop Loaysa until the Catholic king could 
appoint a Viceroy. 



^^ 



JEROME DE LOA YSA, 1 4 ^ 



He had a talent for all kinds of affairs, 
says Melendez ; he was great in peace as 
well as in war. He could command an army 
of soldiers as well as govern his diocese. 
With learned men he was an accomplished 
scholar ; with the great he knew how to be 
great ; with the humble and poor he was the 
humblest of men. He was indeed '* all to 
all to gain all to Christ." 

One day the new Viceroy, Don Francisco 
de Toledo, speaking with our Archbishop 
and some of his suffragans, thought fit to 
use the following language : '' If you, my 
lords, took good care of your flocks, I would 
not hear so much of the evils that prevail in 
this land, or be obliged to apply a remedy to 
them." The Archbishop quickly answered : 
'* If you, my lord Viceroy, had always the 
zeal for God and the king which their ser- 
vice requires, and if you had always aided 
the prelates as you were bound to do, you 
would not now be obliged to employ such 
severe measures in the repression of crime. 
True, indeed, we bishops have need of you, 



142 ILL US TRIO US DOMINICANS, 

as you also have need of us ; for if we 
do not mutually assist one another, none of 
us can ever remedy the evils of which we 
hear so much." 

In another circumstance he showed his 
firmness still more. This same Viceroy had 
brought with him from Spain a priest whose 
conduct did not come up to the standard re- 
quired by our prelate. Secret and paternal 
admonition was, as usual, resorted to ; but 
no good effect following from this proper 
course, he decided to send the clergyman 
back to Spain. Don Francisco de Toledo, 
hearing of it, repaired to the Archbishop's 
palace to obtain a commutation of the pun- 
ishment, for it was considered disgraceful to 
be sent back under such circumstances. Our 
prelate politely refused to change the sen- 
tence, and the Viceroy, remarking that it was 
an. insult to refuse him this favor, added 
threateningly that if the priest in question 
should be obliged to go to Spain his lordship 
the Archbishop ran a great risk of going 
along with him. 



^)f:. 



JEROME DE LOA YSA. 143 

The Archbishop answered in a meek and 
firm tone, saying : '' Your excellency may do 
as you please, but in this case I am inclined 
to think that we shall not go alone." Hear- 
ing this, the Viceroy returned to his palace 
without uttering a word. 



CHAPTER V. 

FOUNDATION OF THE GREAT HOSPITAL OF ST. ANNE 
— DEATH OF THE ARCHBISHOP. 

We have now to make brief mention of 
some of the greatest works of Archbishop 
Loaysa. He erected a magnificent cathedral, 
which still exists, and which is probably the 
richest in the Western world. Besides dif- 
ferent parishes he founded the convent of 
the Holy Rosary. But the work which 
chiefly enshrines his memory in benedic- 
tion is probably the great hospital of St. 
Anne. 

For a long time he had thought of found- 
ing a hospital for the poor Indians, who in 
their sickness were often left in the fields or 
woods, where they died without any care 
and frequently without the holy sacraments. 

This good thought worked u^on him more 

144 






JEROME BE LOA YSA. 145 

and more as he advanced in years, and he re- 
solved to put it into execution as soon as pos- 
sible. To do so effectually he sold all that he 
possessed, and with the money received in re- 
turn he laid the foundation of the grand hos- 
pital of St. Anne, which exists in Lima even 
to this day. 

It was hardly ready to receive patients 
when he caused all the infirm Indians of 
Lima to be conveyed to it, and soon after 
had a room prepared for himself in the build- 
ing, so that he might be near to help the 
dying and to watch over the whole estab- 
lishment. The great charity and practi- 
cal zeal of our holy prelate are here princi- 
pally made manifest. He often took part 
in the humblest offices, and accompanied the 
physicians in their visits to the sick with 
a view to having their prescriptions pro- 
perly carried out. But the income of his 
archbishopric was insufficient for the sup- 
port of the hospital, and he was obliged 
to beg for it. He went from door to 
door in the city of Lima asking alms for 



1 46 ILL USTRIO US DOMINICANS. 

his poor sick people, and sent letters to 
Spain to the same effect. The Spanish 
monarchs several times sent him large sums, 
for they had always at heart the temporal 
well-being of the Indians as well as their 
conversion. 

Here is the circular letter which the Arch- 
bishop sent to his priests in regard to the hos- 
pital. It is found to-day at the head of the 
hospital regulations : 

" Among the many things for which we 
shall have to render an account at the day 
of judgment, the first mentioned in the holy 
Gospel are works of piety and mercy to the 
poor and distressed. We are told that on 
the day of judgment the sovereign Judge 
will say to us : ' Come, ye blessed of My Fa- 
ther. I was hungry, and you gave me to 
eat ; I was thirsty, and you gave me to drink ; 
I was sick, and you cared for me ; a stranger, 
and you took me in.' 

*' And, moreover, we read that the eternal 
Judge of men and angels will say to the 
wicked : * Go, ye accursed of My Father, into 



m^ 



JEROME DE LOAYSA, 147 

everlasting fire, for when I was sick you did 
not care for me ; when I was hungry you 
did not feed me ; when I was thirsty you 
did not give me to drink/ Such is the ac- 
count that the great God will require of us 
in the day of general judgment as to how 
we have conducted ourselves towards our 
neighbors in distress. 

'' Wherefore, considering the large number 
of poor Indians now in Lima who are sick 
and in want of all things, we have conclud- 
ed to establish here a hospital for them, as 
a work most pleasing to God and most use- 
ful to the country ; for, besides the care of 
the sick, many other works of mercy may 
be performed by means of this hospital. 

*' Indians, for instance, not yet Christian, 
seeing that we take care of them without 
the least object of self-interest and solely for 
the love of God, will be drawn to ask for 
Baptism. 

''The baptized Indians will find in this 
hospital the care of the body, but still more 



148 ILLUSTRIOUS DOMINICANS. 

the reception of the sacraments and the 
care of their souls. 

'*The Spaniards themselves, in contribute 
ing to the erection of this hospital, will 
find a good occasion to give alms as satis- 
faction for their sins, and a sure means of 
restoring to the Indians the property which 
was wrongfully taken from them, and of 
which many still retain unjust possession. \ 

'' Hence it is that we have resolved tOi 
establish a hospital for the Indians, and v/e 
ask now, and shall continue to ask, alms 
for the same until the work will have been 
entirely finished ; and we hope that money 
sufficient to carry it on will never be want- 
ing. I 

'' Furthermore, we declare that, among 
the saints who are most remarkable for their 
devotion to the poor, St. Joachim and St. 
Anne, the father and mother of the Blessed 
Virgin, take a high rank. We desire, there- 
fore, that our hospital be placed under the 
invocation and title of St. Anne." 



JEROME DE LOAYSA. 149 

He conferred on it an annual income of 
sixteen thousand crowns — a princely revenue 
for those days. But how did he secure such 
abundant means ? It was admitted that the 
revenues of his diocese were not at all suffi- 
cient to meet the expenses necessary in pro- 
viding his people with the spiritual and 
temporal succors of which they had need. 
It is explained by the fact that persons of 
high standing in the province, rich men 
and successful soldiers of fortune, put into 
his hands large sums of money for these 
good purposes. Besides, the Catholic king, 
Philip II., assigned to him the revenues of 
an entire province, trusting to his prudent 
management the proper employment of 
these funds in the support of churches, the 
poor, and those charged with their instruc- 
tion and care. 

Lima is also indebted to this distinguished 
man for the establishment of several houses 
of prayer and retreat ; in particular, for the 
convent of the Third Order of St. Dominic, 



150 ILL US TRIO US DOMINICANS, 

which has been the school of perfection of 
many Christian virgins. The illustrious St. 
Rose of Lima,*^ the good odor of whose 
wonderful virtues has spread itself over the 
Old World as well as the New, received here 
the first lessons of sanctity from those who 
had been formed to a holy life by the in- 
structions and examples of our Archbishop. 

After all these labors and toils, and after 
having added to the Kingdom of Jesus 
Christ a numerous people, the Archbishop 
died in the hospital of St. Anne, full of 
years and of merits, on the twenty-fifth of 
October, 1575, in the thirty-eighth year of 
his episcopate. Of these years he had spent 
six in Carthagena and thirty-two in Lima. 
His last wish was to be buried among the 
poor of this hospital. 

Here we find his epitaph in the following 
beautiful inscription : 

* She was born in Lima in 1586, eleven years after the 
death of the Archbishop, and died in the odor of sanctity in 
161 7, at the age of thirty-one years. 



JEROME BE LOA VSA, 1 5 ^ 

D. O. M. 

CiviTATis Hujus EccLESiiE Cathedralis Erector, 

Et Primus Ejus Archiepiscopus, CARXHAGENiE 

OlIM PRiESUL, 

Ordinis Pr^edicatorum Ornamentum, 
Illustrissimus DD. Fr. Hieronymus De Loaysa, 

Cui Lima Hanc Parochiam Et Xenodochium, 
Indigence Amorem Et Omnes Imitationem Debent. 

C. H. S. 

Religione, Clementia, Liberalitate Clarus. 
Obiit Anno 1575, die 25 Octobris. 

Da Tumulo Flores ; Die Ultima Verba Jacenti ; 
DiscE Etiam Sancte Vivere ; Disce Mori. 

We have added a few words to this epi- 
taph as given by Touron. They are taken 
from '' Les Dominicaines in Am^rique," al- 
ready mentioned. The author visited the 
scene of the holy Archbishop's labors, and 
copied from the monument the epitaph as 
given. From this work of Pere Roze we 
also take the following: ''Even to-day, in 



1 



152 ILL US TRIO US DOMINICAN:^. 

the hospital of St. Anne at Lima, in the 
centre of the cross formed by the four great 
corridors of the infirmary, there is an altar 
consecrated to the patroness of the hospital, 
and over this altar we see a painting of St. 
Anne, with our Archbishop kneeling at her 
feet. On a stone beneath the painting we 
find the following inscription in the Spanish 
language : 

'''This is the portrait of Don Jerome de 
Loaysa, a native of Truxillo in Estremadura, 
of noble blood, a Dominican by profession, 
and a very learned man. In the year 1537 
he was appointed Bishop of Carthagena ; in 
1 541, Bishop of Lima. He finished his 
cathedral in September, 1543, and received 
the pallium as first Archbishop of Lima in 
1548. He was a prelate of strict justice and 
extraordinary zeal. His charity was uncom- 
monly conspicuous, especially towards the 
Indians, whom he tenderly loved, and for 
whose benefit he built this hospital in 1549. 
He gave it all his property in life, and his 
body in death. He provided for it, more- 



JEROME DE LOA YSA, I 5 3 

over, a yearly income of sixteen thousand 
crowns for the benefit of the poor, among 
whom he passed his Hfe in the exercises of 
charity and prayer. He held two provincial 
councils, and governed his church (of Lima) 
thirty-two years, dying full of merits in 

1575.'" 

In closing this short sketch of the great 
Archbishop we may remark in justice to his. 
memory that in all works relating to the 
history of Peru, and to the remarkable men 
it gave to America and the Church, our holy 
prelate is ever mentioned among the most 
illustrious. 



St^P^^^^pYi 


w 




1 



